


A Magic Beyond Us

by Ineia



Category: Haikyuu!!, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, And I mean slow, Bigotry & Prejudice, Blood purity, Gen, Inter-House Rivalries, M/M, Magic, Magical Shenanigans, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Build, Slow Burn, half-blood Iwaizumi, muggleborn oikawa
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-25
Updated: 2017-08-24
Packaged: 2018-08-10 21:31:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 33,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7861819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ineia/pseuds/Ineia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Iwaizumi Hajime knew he would be going to Hogwarts, but he didn't know what he would find there.  Seven years including, but not limited to: magic, invisibility cloaks, Quidditch, dragons, rivalries, friends, and Oikawa Tooru (not necessarily in that order).</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Little Magic

Hajime's earliest memory of magic is this:

He lays on his mother's lap, sleepy, resting as his mother's warmth gently soothes him.

She sings a lullaby softly to him and he watches as she lifts her hand and his blanket floats over to them from where it lay on the back of a nearby chair.

"Mama," he whispers.

"What's wrong, darling?" she replies, wrapping him up in the blanket and rubbing circles on his back.

"Can I do that?" Hajime asks, curiosity and eagerness shining through despite his fatigue.

His mother laughs, and brushes his hair out of his eyes,

"One day, baby, one day when you're older."

Many things he's been told he can do when he's older, and he's impatient to reach the point where he can start doing all these things.  But his mother's reassuring tone and hold gives him faith that all will happen, in time.  For now, this is enough and Hajime closes his eyes, waiting and wondering when that day will come.

 

✦

 

Magic is always present.  His mother didn't overuse it, but she used it often so that a little boy wouldn't forget as little boys do.

She'll get books from high shelves with a wave of her hand, sometimes using her wand.  When she picks Hajime up and holds him up in the air, she'll remove her hands and let him float for a few seconds before she grabs him again and blows raspberries on his chest while Hajime shouts "Again!  Again!"

And when Hajime turns five, he begins to use magic too.

He's hungry and his mother has a plate of freshly baked cookies sitting on the kitchen counter.  He'd been whining that he wanted one and his mother had chided him that he had to wait until dinner.  Hajime had pouted and decided to sit in front of the counter and wait.

The cookies' smell wafts down to Hajime and he starts to cry quietly.  He really wants a cookie.  Just as he is about to go to his mother and beg for one again, when the plate of cookies flies off the counter and slowly lands right in front of Hajime, just a few cookies fall to the floor.  For a moment, Hajime remains frozen before he yells, running to his mother,

"Mama!  The plate of cookies flew!"

"Flew?" his mother says, looking up from a book she'd been reading.

"I wanted one, and then the plate flew down."

"Did you make it fly?" she asks, delight in her voice.

Hajime pauses, he had not considered that.  Then his head snaps up to his mother,

"I did!  Mama, I think I did!"

"You did!"

"I did!  I did!"

His mother laughs loudly, and picks him up, spins him around,

"Hajime, you're a wizard!"

"I'm a wizard!" he shouts.

He marches around the house, trying to make other things float, but his mother tells him magic is a little random before you turn eleven.  So Hajime just skips around the house, utterly delighted.

When his dad comes home and dinner finally happens, he's surprised it ruins his mood.

"You can't tell Tooru-chan, darling," his mother instructs, putting down her fork.  He'd finished his food quickly and his mother had given him an extra cookie.  His father had seemed pleased about the magical development, if a little unsure.

"What?  Why not?  Tooru is gonna be so excited," Hajime says as he eats his cookie.

"You've never mentioned magic to him before, right, Hajime?  Like your mother told you?" his father asks, and Hajime nods,

"I've never said anything.  But it's my magic now, not Mama's."

"Yes, we know, baby, but Tooru can't know about magic, he's a muggle."

"Daddy is a muggle," Hajime counters, "But he knows.  Why not Tooru?"

"Yes, but Daddy is married to me, and he's your Daddy, so he gets to know.  He's family.  But Tooru is only a friend, so he can't know."

Hajime frowns and stops eating his cookie.  Suddenly, he looks up,

"If I marry Tooru, can I tell him?"

His parents laugh and Hajime is puzzled.

"Hajime, baby," his mother says, as her laughter subsides, "You can't marry, Tooru."

"Why not?" Hajime wonders.

"Well, you have to be a grown up to get married," his father explains, "Among other things."

"Oh," Hajime says, deflating, "So I can't tell him?"

"Sorry, darling," his mother says, going back to her food.

Hajime stares at his cookie for a moment before reluctantly eating it again.

 

✦

 

"Hajime-chan, you look sad," Tooru says as they sit in a bush, waiting to catch bugs.

Tooru hates bugs, but he knows Hajime loves them, so he perseveres.  Tooru can be whiny about it, but he never refuses to go with Hajime, and Hajime knows Tooru's being a good friend.

"I'm not sad," Hajime retorts, gripping his net tighter.  He's lying.  He is sad, he's also mad.  He wants to tell Tooru about his magic, but he knows he can't.  He leaps out of the bush and slams his net down on a beetle,

"Hand me the jar, Tooru."

"You're lying, Hajime-chan!" Tooru accuses, handing him the jar.  Hajime unscrews the top and lifts the net up, gently holding the beetle and dropping him into the jar.  His mom had helped him make it.  She put holes in the top of the jar, and put a stick and leaves inside.  Tooru had helped by putting star stickers on its sides.

After Hajime puts the top back on the jar, he sits still for a moment,

"Maybe I'm sad, but it doesn't matter," Hajime admits.

"It does matter!  I don't want you to be sad, Hajime-chan," Tooru exclaims.

"I can't tell you why I'm sad, though," Hajime explains, looking to Tooru.  Tooru has a determined expression on his face, like his will can make Hajime happier.  Hajime looks away and picks up the jar and net, walking towards the creek not far from where they stand.  The woods behind their houses are full of good bugs for Hajime, and Tooru likes looking at the plants, especially the prickly ones.

"Why can't you?" Tooru asks, walking side by side with Hajime, leaning towards him, demanding an answer.

"It's a secret," Hajime says, "I can't tell anybody, including you.  Sorry, Tooru."

Tooru's face turns from a demanding pout to sadly disappointed, but understanding,

"It's okay, Hajime-chan," Tooru says.

They arrive at the creek and Hajime puts his net and the jar down on a rock.

As soon as he turns back from the rock, Tooru hugs him.  Hajime is surprised for a second, before he hugs Tooru back.

"Don't be sad, Hajime-chan."

"Thanks, Tooru."

After the hug, they take of their shoes and sit on the creek's shore, letting the water rush over their toes.  Their mothers said they can't do more than that without supervision, but Hajime likes just sitting and watching the water.  Tooru gets fidgety after a while, so he stands up and looks at the beetle in the jar and runs around a while before sitting back down next to Hajime.

Hajime didn't feel as bad after sitting for a little while and Tooru didn't look upset, so he decided to not worry about not telling Tooru.  Maybe when he got older, they could married and then he could tell him,

"Tooru, when we get older, do you want to get married?" Hajime asks, looking at his friend.  Tooru's eyebrows smush together,

"I don't know, I haven't gotten married before."

"You can't get married when you're a kid," Hajime explains, "I said when you're older."

"Hm...  Probably!  My parents are married and they're happy.  So are yours.  I'd like to be happy like that, so I'll get married." Tooru concludes.

"My mom says I can only tell my secret to family, but if we got married," Hajime says excitedly, "I could tell you!"

"Really?" Tooru asks, a huge grin on his face, "Yeah!"

"But," Hajime frowns, "you have to be a grown up to get married..."

Tooru pouts, as he often does,

"Oh!  That stinks...  I want to get married to Hajime-chan."

The two sit, defeated, glaring at the creek.  After a few more seconds of angry sitting, Tooru stands up,

"If we can't married, let's find another bug for the jar, and they can get married!"

Hajime grins, leaping up and getting his net.  The pair head back into the woods, in search of beetle matrimony.

 

✦

 

Hajime does his best to control his magic, but he is only a kid.

Once, when they are six, Hajime and Tooru are hunting for a certain kind of beetle, a rhinoceros beetle, one found in a book Hajime's uncle gave him, listing all the different kinds of insects common to their area.

Hajime and Tooru sit in a bush, reading the book like it's a secret treasure, each taking a turn trying to pronounce the species name,  _Allomyrina dichotoma_.  Tooru says it sounds like a magic spell.  Hajime tries to laugh, but it comes out fake-sounding.  What if Tooru figured out he and his mom had magic?  What if he got so mad he didn't want to be friends anymore?  They weren't even married, Hajime thinks, scandalized, Tooru wasn't supposed to know anything at all!

Tooru tilts his head,

"Hajime-chan?  What's wrong?"

"N-nothing, sorry," Hajime replies quickly, going back to the book and reading aloud the description of the bug.

Hajime sees Tooru giving him a suspicious glance, but in a few moments, it's gone, as nothing holds a six year old's interest for too long.

It is limited attention span that results in Hajime on the verge of tears after a whole hour of looking for the rhino beetle in vain.

Tooru grabs Hajime's hand that's not holding his net and squeezes it,

"It's okay, Hajime-chan!  Maybe we can try again tomorrow?"

Hajime is about to nod and surrender when he sees a small movement in front of a nearby tree,

"Look!" he exclaims, and runs over to a rhino beetle, dragging Tooru along.  It's crawling towards them, and Tooru lets go of his hand to open up their jar.  He places it in the beetle's path and it climbs right into it, and with the quick placement of the top, the beetle is secured inside.

Hajime takes the jar from Tooru and stares at the beetle in amazement,

"I can't believe we found one just before we gave up!"

"Very lucky, Hajime-chan," Tooru agrees, and then he let out a small gasp, "Hajime-chan!"

Hajime looks at Tooru, then his hand, pointing in the direction of...  Another rhino beetle!

"Cool!" Hajime says, putting the jar down and walking up to the other beetle.  It stops in front of him, and Hajime scoops it into his hand, gently running his fingers on its back.

Tooru is watching and pets it a bit too, though he is much more hesitant.  Tooru turns away to the jar when Hajime hears him shriek.

Hajime whips around to see at least twenty rhino beetles in a herd scuttling towards them.

"Why are there so many?" Tooru yelps, picking up the jar and hiding behind Hajime, grabbing his hand.

It takes a few seconds before it clicks with Hajime that he may have, unintentionally, gotten so frustrated that he magically summoned all the rhino beetles in the forest.

"Oh no," Tooru whispers, and Hajime looks to see even more beetles approaching from the opposite direction.

Hajime likes beetles, and this is pretty cool, if slightly extreme to him, but Tooru is shaking now, so he puts the beetle in his hand down and smiles at Tooru,

"They won't hurt us.  We have one now, we can go back to my house."

Tooru's eyes are wide, and Hajime can tell he's thinking a million thoughts a second,

"Hajime-chan, what if they're angry we captured one of their beetle friends?  What if they're going to attack us for kidnapping?  What if the king beetle comes and is so upset he tries to ma–"

"They're not angry, they're beetles," Hajime replies, pulling Tooru by his hand in the direction of his house, "Let's go."

Tooru doesn't hesitate to get away from the beetles and gladly walks with Hajime back to his house.

After some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and a little bit of milkbread, Tooru is recovered from the incident.

 

When he tells his mother the events of the day, she laughs and pats him on the back, assuring him when he gets older it will be much easier to contain and control his magic.  A part of Hajime is relieved, that he won't scare Tooru again, another part is disappointed that he won't be able to accidentally summon a beetle army again.

 

✦

 

Soon after the rhino beetle incident, Hajime and Tooru go out hunting again, but not for any beetles, for a butterfly.

Tooru sees one out his window and is instantly captivated, running to Hajime's house across the street and demanding they go find one.

It's unusual to see Tooru lead an expedition, Hajime thinks, yet leading somehow suits him.

From Hajime's book, they learn butterflies like flowers, so they wait by the biggest bush of flowers they can find to catch one.

Tooru is impatient, so much more so than Hajime is.  While Hajime sits and waits, Tooru sits, then stands, then walks about, then hops up and down, then draws in the dirt, then draws circles on Hajime's knees, then balances on one leg, then falls down next to Hajime in a heap,

"How do you not get bored, Hajime-chan!" Tooru whines.

"It's not boring, we're waiting for a butterfly," Hajime responds, absentmindedly turning his net over in his hands, "It's only been a few minutes anyways."

Tooru groans, ever the dramatic.

A half hour passes and Hajime still isn't too bothered, the rhino beetles took much longer and if he gets too frustrated he might summon a horde of butterflies by mistake.  His patience doesn't feel stretched at all, but Tooru's is a different matter.

When he really wants something, he cannot wait.  Normally he doesn't really have a strong desire to find whatever bug Hajime has been obsessed with, but the butterfly was  _Tooru's_  idea.

"It's the end, Hajime-chan, I'm going to die without seeing a butterfly up close."

"You're not going to die, silly," Hajime says, "Just–"

Hajime stops, looking at something hovering a few feet down the bush.  Tooru looks at him expectantly, then follows his gaze to –

"A butterfly!" Tooru says excitedly.

"Shh," Hajime hushes, "Don't be too loud or it'll fly away."

That shuts Tooru up.  The butterfly flies from flower to flower, getting closer to the boys, eventually landing at a flower right in front of them.

Tooru stares at the butterfly, and it doesn't move for a long time.  Hajime hadn't been too interested in it, but up close, its wings are colorful, intricate, and beautiful.  When he looks to Tooru, the sparkle in his eyes in more magical than any spell he's seen his mother cast.  Hajime finds himself grinning uncontrollably, happy for Tooru and glad to see such a pretty creature sitting in front of him.

Timidly, Tooru moves his pointer finger to the butterfly, offering it as a perch.  It opens and closes its wings and, miraculously, crawls onto Tooru's finger.

Hajime's mouth falls open and Tooru lets out the smallest of gasps.

Tooru slowly moves from crouching by the bush to standing, with the butterfly.  Hajime stands up with him, and the pair are mystified by the little insect.

Another butterfly lands on Tooru's shoulder, and it takes Hajime a moment to notice, before he nudges Tooru to alert him to its presence.

Tooru small delighted smile the one butterfly had garnered turns into a huge face consuming grin.

Tooru lifts up his arm, trying to encourage the butterfly on his shoulder to walk down his arm, and not one, not two, but three butterflies land on that arm.

Hajime feels a twisting in his chest, the transition from cool coincidence to unnatural occurrence.

Tooru's face changes from joy to alarm quite quickly, and the panic only builds as four butterflies land on the arm with the original finger butterfly and one more butterfly lands on his other shoulder,

"Hajime-chan, I'm scared," Tooru says, very quietly and very anxiously.

"It's fine, Tooru," Hajime assures him, even though Hajime is beginning to panic slightly, "Wave your arm gently and they'll fly away."

Tooru nods and waves his arms.  Six more butterflies land on him.  Gentle waving turns into frantic waving, but the butterflies won't get off.

Tooru starts sobbing and Hajime feels rage surging through him.

He's so confused and furious.  He can't have summoned the butterflies, can he?  He didn't even want to see them all that much, at the start of their hunt.

But as more butterflies land on Tooru and his wails become increasingly loud, Hajime leaps towards him and swats at the butterflies, desperate for them to go away.

Hajime can't understand it, but he must have magically attracted the butterflies, and somehow the magic was no longer working with him.

At first the butterflies don't even flinch when Hajime tries to force them off, but Tooru chokes out,

"Don't kill them, Hajime-chan!"

Hajime frowns, and is decidedly more gentle in his efforts.  Even if Tooru's wishes are counterproductive, he'll always try to follow them.

It's not working and Hajime is getting worked up himself.  Tooru is terrified and sad, and there's nothing he can do about it!  And he must have inadvertently caused it in the first place!

"Get off Tooru," Hajime says, "you stupid butterflies!  Leave him alone!"

He angrily swipes at the butterflies, and all at once, they shoot up into the air and fly away.

Tooru and Hajime are frozen in shock for a moment.

Hajime stares at his hand, thinking about what he'd said.  Did his words make the butterflies leave?

He doesn't have time to think about it much before Tooru's knees buckle and he collapses on the ground, sobbing uncontrollably and blabbing,

"Ha-Hajime, Hajime-chan, you, thank you, you, Haji–"

Hajime immediately wraps his arms around Tooru and helps him stand, hugging him,

"It's okay, Tooru.  They couldn't have hurt you."

"I-I was so scared, Hajime-chan," Tooru whispers.

"I know.  I was scared too."

"Thank you, you saved me," Tooru says, hugging Hajime tighter.

Hajime hums as he lets go of Tooru,

"Yeah, of course."

As they walk back, Tooru will not let go of Hajime's hand, and even though it's embarrassing, Hajime doesn't mind.

The tears turn to sniffles, and Hajime is relieved to see Tooru calm down.

"It was kinda cool," Tooru reflects between sniffles, "I got scared when so many came, but at first it was fun."

"The mission wasn't a failure," Hajime agrees.

"I'm not sure I'd do it again, though, Hajime-chan," Tooru notes, and Hajime laughs.

 

After Hajime recalls the story to his mother, she pauses for a moment as if considering something she never had thought of before.

"Mama?" Hajime finally asks when she hadn't said anything for a good minute.

"Oh, sorry, baby, I was just thinking of something.  Magic is weird like that, you know.  Manifests itself oddly."

When Hajime lays in bed that night, he thinks of Tooru crying against him.  All his magic had ever done to Tooru is cause him to cry.  Next time I use magic, Hajime thinks, I won't let Tooru cry.

The thought of Tooru smiling when he described how the butterflies were sort of cool when they first landed is enough to let Hajime sleep in peace.

 

✦

 

When he's eight years old, his mother tells him about Hogwarts.

"Did you ever wonder," his mother asks, as she tucks him into bed, "where I learned all the magic I know?"

Hajime hums in response,

"I thought when you get older you can just, control it?"

His mother shakes her head,

"You do get more control as you get older, but you have to learn it!" she explains, booping a finger on Hajime's nose.

Hajime's eyes widened,

"Are you going to teach me?"

His mom laughs and shakes her head again,

"No, there's a place where they teach you, it's called Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

"Hogwarts?" Hajime thinks that name sounds silly.

"Yes, when you turn eleven, you get an acceptance letter, and then that next school year you head off to learn all about magic."

"Woah," Hajime breathes, "A school, just for magic?"

"Yes.  It's a boarding school, and you live in a great castle next to a huge lake."

"A castle!" Hajime shouts, "You live there!"

"Mmhm," his mother said, "You come back during the holidays, and for the summer.

"There's also four houses, and you live and attend classes with your house.  Each house has its own traits that it values and embodies.  There's my house, Ravenclaw, known for wisdom and curiosity.  We value intelligence and learning.  There's also Hufflepuff, which values loyalty and dedication, Gryffindor, which values courage and chivalry, and Slytherin, which values ambition and cunning."

"Will I be Ravenclaw like you?" Hajime asks.

"Not necessarily," his mom replies, "You're smart, baby, but you're also kind and loyal, and brave, and enterprising.  You could be any of the houses and I'd be very happy for you."

"So, I'm going to Hogwarts?" Hajime says with an air of wonder.

"When you're eleven."

Hajime's smiling lasts a few more seconds before a thought hits him,

"So Hogwarts is for wizards only..."

"Yes," his mother confirms, a knowing look on her face.

"That means that Tooru won't go," Hajime concludes, a weight settling in his chest, crushing the excitement of the moment before.

His mother nods, but not before an odd flicker of doubt crosses her face.  Hajime doesn't have time to think about it before she leans in and kisses him on the forehead, wishing him goodnight.

Hajime thinks of magic, of having a wand and casting spells, of sleeping in a castle, of being surrounded by witches and wizards.

He wonders if it will be as magical as he dreamed learning magic would be without Tooru.

 

✦

 

"You're upset, Hajime-chan," Tooru says the next day, when they're playing volleyball in Tooru's yard.

They take turns, one person setting and the other receiving the ball.

When Tooru speaks, Hajime tenses and fails to receive the ball at all.  He says nothing as it falls and rolls on the ground.

Tooru says nothing in return, waiting for Hajime to explain, as they both know he will, eventually.

"My mom..." Hajime starts, staring at the still volleyball on the dirt, his voice sounding much more shaky than he likes, "When she was eleven, she went to a boarding school."

Tooru looks expectantly at his friend, Hajime meets his eyes for a moment before he stares back down at the ground,

"When I turn eleven, I'm going to that boarding school, too."

Hajime looks up at Tooru's face and watches him process the information and then –

"Oh."

"Yeah," Hajime says, not sure what else to say.

"Do yo–.  Do you have to go?" Tooru asks, his voice soft, afraid.

"Yeah.  My mom's parents met there. Her granddad went there, and his dad, and then his dad..." Hajime trails off.

When Hajime gathers the courage to look at Tooru, his friend's face is empty, like he can't quite figure out how he should feel.

"It's not like it's happening now, it's when I turn eleven," Hajime adds, picking up the volleyball, "And I'll come back all summer and for winter vacation.  You could write me too, every day if you wanted."

Tooru smiles, and Hajime's heart wrenches, because it's not real.  He knows Tooru's real smile, and he knows the fake smiles that the girls in class get and he gives teachers when he's accidentally rude.

He's seen the fake smile often, but never directed at him.

Hajime drops the volleyball and runs and hugs his friend,

"Don't smile unless you want to, stupid.  I'm sorry, I wanted to tell you about it, but I didn't want to make you sad."

Tooru slowly hugs back, and the tension in his body fades away,

"Let's just cross that bridge when we reach it," Tooru whispers.

With that, he pulls away and puts on a face of determination, going and picking up the volleyball,

"Your turn to set, Hajime-chan."

As they play, Hajime knows Tooru is still upset, with reason, but he also sees Tooru is putting his unhappiness to the side, forgetting about it until he has to face it.

Later that day, as they watch an alien movie together, Tooru laughs and smiles at the silliness of the government in their inability to stop an alien invasion, and it's all real.

"Are you staring at me, Hajime-chan?  I am quite beautiful, you know, but it's not polite."

Hajime elbows Tooru who squeaks out a "Mean!" before focusing on the movie again.

Hajime can't help but think that there's something in their friendship, something that might carry across distance and time.  Something that comes with knowing someone for as long as you can remember, with being partners in crime throughout your childhood, with spending the day adventuring together.  Something that connects Hajime to Tooru that cannot be broken.  Not even by magic.

 

✦

 

A week before Hajime's eleventh birthday, a letter arrives: addressed to Iwaizumi Hajime, from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

 


	2. Letters and the Special Messenger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Letters, Iwa-chan, and a muggleborn.

For so long, Hogwarts has been only a concept in Hajime's head.  It's a place he would go to eventually, but it's far along in the future.

Yet as Hajime holds his acceptance letter, he can see it creeping into his present.

His mother is delighted when the letter arrives, and his father does his best to match her enthusiasm despite his lack of nostalgia that has his mom so excited.

He rips it open and reads it aloud, and when he reads the list of things he needs to have, a wand, robes, a cauldron; it all feels so real and sudden.

After his mother had told him about Hogwarts for the first time, she would tell Hajime little things about the school as they come to her.

She tells him about Quidditch, about winning the Quidditch cup with her team in her sixth and seventh years.  She talks of her friends, of the friends she made in her own house, in the other houses, some older, some younger, some her own age.

Hajime learns how wonderful the feasts are, how majestic the library is, how terrifying the forest is, how huge the school is, how magical a place is Hogwarts.

All of it makes him eager to go (flying in particular makes Hajime's heart soar).

And yet –

"Hajime-chan!"

Tooru walks into Hajime's yard like he owns the place, and observed Hajime where he lays in the grass, reflecting.

Hajime makes a almost hum-like grunt in response, and Tooru tsks,

"Such an ape, Hajime-chan.  You don't even bother with a 'hello.'"

But despite his chiding, Tooru lays down next to Hajime on the ground.

Tooru doesn't say "what's wrong" or demand anything of Hajime, he just waits, knowing he'll get an explanation eventually.

A few minutes pass before Hajime lets out a sigh and turns to face Tooru,

"I got a letter of acceptance into my mother's boarding school."

Tooru gives Hajime a smile, and it's not totally fake, but certainly not genuine,

"That's...  Nice.  You must be excited."

"Yeah," Hajime admits, "A little, but I don't want to leave you, and all our friends, and everything I've known."

"So sentimental, Hajime-chan," Tooru says, but there's no force behind the tease.  Out of the corner of his eye, Hajime sees Tooru looking about as sad as Hajime feels, but Tooru catches his glance and immediately tries to brighten his expression.  Even though Tooru clearly does not want to look happy, the way he widens his eyes and tries to smile to compensate makes Hajime smile and chuckle, for how silly and endearing it is.

Tooru does a fake gasp at Hajime's laughter before he sits up and claps his hands, using the slightly more positive mood for all its worth,

"Well, I have a gift for you, Hajime-chan."

Hajime raises an eyebrow at Tooru, propping himself up on the elbows,

"My birthday's a week away, you know."

"I know, and I have an actual present for then," Tooru waves a hand in dismissal, "But as an early one, I decided to stop calling you Hajime-chan."

"What?" Hajime's mouth falls open and sits up right.

"Remember after my ninth birthday, when we went out to my yard with my new telescope and tried to learn all the constellations in one night?" Tooru asks.

Hajime nods, "Yeah, but what does that have to do with my name?"

"Well you said that night that we probably wouldn't be able to call each other by our first names forever, and I agreed, but said we were still little enough to, you know?" Tooru prompts.

Thinking back, Hajime does remember that, but he has had no reason to think of it again.

"Since you're eleven, and I'll be eleven soon, I figure it's about time we not call each other by first names," announces Tooru.

Hajime stares at Tooru, completely in agreement, but the prospect of not calling his friend Tooru somehow makes him sadder rather than happier.  Calling Tooru by his last name, calling him Oikawa (it sounded weird in his head, even), is much more formal, it makes Tooru feel much more distant.

It's not a bad gift, though.  Teasing about their familiarity increases each year as more kids use last names to refer to even their best friends.

Tooru is never one to follow the expectations of others, so he and Hajime are some of the last kids in their class to continue using first names.  Hajime tries not to be too embarrassed, but Tooru's loud calls of "Hajime-chan" do sound like something a little toddler would say.

Hajime never has thought too much about it, just ignoring the problem, but as Tooru sits before him, he thinks Tooru must have.

"You could just call me Hajime," Hajime offers, "Drop the chan.  I don't mind what anyone says."

Tooru smiles then shakes his head,

"No, Hajime-chan, that wouldn't sound right."

Hajime nods, looking at his feet.  Tooru is right, like he usually is.

"But of course, I'm not calling you 'Iwaizumi' either," Tooru says with a little giggle in his voice.

Hajime freezes for a second, then slowly turned to Tooru,

"Wait, what?"

"Oh I've thought about it for a long time now, Hajime-chan.  Iwaizumi-san was far too formal.  Iwaizumi-kun was better, but it sounds like what all the kids in class you don't really know you call you.  Just Iwaizumi on its own is a bit boring, though, don't you think?  And it's a mouthful.  Besides, nobody knows we're good friends if I just called you Iwaizumi!"

Hajime narrows his eyes at his friend, where was he going...

"So, I finally decided, after nearly endless debate, to call you..." Tooru pauses for dramatic effect and Hajime suppresses a groan at his theatrics,

"Iwa-chan."

"That's barely any better than Hajime-chan, Tooru."

"So mean, Haj–.  Oh, so mean,  _Iwa-chan_!"  Tooru grins like the new nickname is some sort of secret.

"If you're going to call me Iwa-chan, whatever, I don't care," Hajime says plainly to Tooru, "But I'm just going to call you Oikawa."

"Really, Hajime-chan?  I spend months coming up with Iwa-chan, and you go with just Oikawa!  How dull."

"So sorry,  _Oikawa_."

"So boring,  _Iwa-chan_."

They hold a glare with each other for about half a second before they burst into laughter.

"It sounds so weird, Toor–.  Or, Oikawa."

"If you want, we can start using new names on your birthday, and practice until then, Haj–.  Iwa-chan."

"Alright, T–Oikawa."

Despite how short and diminutive Tooru's, or now Oikawa's (Hajime has to remind himself), new nickname is, Hajime appreciated the affection it displays.

It's a silly name, but it's one created by his silly and well-intentioned best friend.

"Let's play volleyball, Iwa-chan," Oikawa (not Tooru) suggests, and Hajime follows his lead, bumping the ball back and forth.

There's no volleyball at Hogwarts, which is a shame, Hajime thinks, and he's going to miss playing with Oikawa after school.

He wonders what life will be life without Oikawa Tooru in it each day.  No after school races home (Hajime always wins), no stargazing at sleepovers and competing to name the most constellations before getting too tired (Hajime always loses), no bug hunts, no alien movies, no practicing volleyball, no dramatics, no theatrics, no Oikawa Tooru.

He's trading one kind of magic for another; the glimmer of mischief and adventure in Oikawa's eyes after capturing the first fireflies of the summer: all traded for wands and charms and flying and potions.

It's not quite fair, Hajime thinks, to make you choose between the two.

 

✦

 

When the tenth of June comes and Iwaizumi turns eleven, he doesn't feel any different, really.

Other than the gift of being 'Iwa-chan', Oikawa gives Hajime with a Godzilla keychain that roars when you press a button on the back, which delights Hajime more than he'd like to admit, and a new volleyball.

His mother says her gift will be an owl they'll purchase along with all his other supplies when she takes him shopping at the end of July.  But she gives him a book of wizard fairy tales to tide him over.

Hajime finds himself hanging out with Oikawa almost every moment, and enjoying it.

Their summers are usually spent together, joined at the hip, but there's an underlying urgency this summer, as if it's the last.

And Oikawa knows just as well as Hajime that it's not their last summer together, but the pair also knows that next summer it will be _different_.

It's not as if they aren't used to change, things always change as they get older.

Bug hunts change into volleyball practices in the yard slowly but surely.

Plays and skits Hajime and Oikawa perform for their parents become rarer, but get more elaborate and dramatic when they do occur.

Oikawa's alien obsession morphed into a fascination with space as a whole (by the time they're ten he knows all the constellations and can point out some of the planets with a decent degree of accuracy), and his dedication to conspiracy theories grows stronger.

Oikawa gets glasses when he starts squinting to see everything around his eighth birthday, and despite some  initial hesitation, Oikawa eventually decides he looks good in glasses and that girls will like him even more.

And, recently, Hajime-chan to Iwa-chan, Tooru to Oikawa.

But Hajime leaving is such a big change and has to happen so quickly, it's unprecedented.

How will summers be when Hajime barely sees Oikawa all year?  Even if Oikawa writes to him a lot, will they still be close?  Will they be friends?

Hajime's head is filled with questions and doubts, and by the looks Hajime catches on his friend's face, Oikawa is thinking of the same queries.

He brings it up to his mom about it one night after asking her to tuck him in, something she rarely does now that he's not so little.

"Did you have any friends who didn't go to Hogwarts, Mama?" Hajime asks.

She looks at him a moment and gives an understanding smile,

"Are you worried about Tooru-chan, darling?"

Hajime glances at his hands, tightening his grip on his covers,

"I want us to be best friends."

"You are best friends, Hajime."

"But after I go to Hogwarts, we won't see each other for so long," Hajime explains, glancing at his mother, trying to hide how nervous he really feels, "He makes friends so easily, and when I'm gone he'll probably find a new best friend."

His mother settles in beside him in bed and gently takes his hands, squeezing them,

"I remember when you were just a baby and we had just moved into this house, I was sitting with you on the lawn.  I laid you on a picnic blanket and was tickling your chest to make you giggle.  I heard someone walking up and there stood another woman, holding another baby.  She introduced herself to me as Kazue Oikawa and said she had meant to bring us some kind of welcoming gift, but it had slipped her mind and that I should come over some time with your father and have dinner with them and a drink.

"I agreed and then asked about her little baby and she introduced me to little Tooru and we started talking and she laid him down right next to you.  We totally forgot about you two laying there until we suddenly heard you both start giggling so loudly.  We looked and you two were facing each other and laughing away.

"We couldn't figure out what you two were laughing at, but from then on, whenever you two were together you were having a blast."

Hajime leans his head on his mom's shoulder and she let go of his hands to rub his back,

"Whether Tooru goes to Hogwarts with you or stays here, you two are close in a way unlike any of the other friends he could possibly make.  A little distance and time isn't going to tear you boys you apart."

Hajime nods, knowing she's right but unable to vanquish the doubts lurking in him.

"Go to sleep," his mother instructs, kissing him on the forehead and walking to the door, "You'll feel better about it in the morning."

"I still wish he could come with me."

His mother pauses in the door frame, and turns to him, a strange mysterious expression on her face.  Hajime blinks and it's gone.

"Goodnight, angel," she whispers and closes the door.

 

✦

 

About a week and a half before Oikawa's birthday, in the middle of July, Hajime's mother takes him out on a bike ride.

A few days a week, Hajime's mom works at the Ministry of Magic, which was essentially the wizard government in Hajime understanding, where she made any muggles that saw magic forget they had, an Obliviator.  Hajime thought this was very cool (much cooler than advertising, which Hajime's dad worked in, but he wouldn't tell his father that), but whenever his mother has a long day with a lot of memory wiping, she would take Hajime out and they would bike to get out some energy.

Hajime and Oikawa are hitting a volleyball in the yard while debating the age old question if aliens could defeat Godzilla when his mother walks through the back door of the house and smiles at the boys,

"Hey there, Hajime, Tooru-chan, how are you doing?"

"Very good, Iwaizumi-san," Oikawa replies, catching the volleyball, "Except Hajime underestimates the aliens."

"How can you root against Godzilla, Stupidkawa?" Hajime shakes his head.

"So rude, Iwa-chan."

"I hate to end your discussion early," Hajime's mother says, recapturing the attention of the boys, "But I was hoping to take Hajime on a bike ride."

"Of course," Tooru chirps, throwing the volleyball to Hajime and heading around the house, "See you tomorrow, Iwa-chan."

"Later," Hajime waves a hand before turning to his mother, "Let's go."

 

It's the late afternoon as they bike around and they'll probably be home just in time for dinner.  Hajime's mother demands to hear about his day first, which is fairly average summer day of playing with Tooru.  After Hajime finishes, he asks about her day and she sighs,

"Oh Hajime, there was such a mess!  A group of dragon escaped from where wizards had been studying them and flew over a rural areas and there was about thirty farmers and their families' memories I had to erase.  It was, a lot of people, in rapid succession.  We were stretched pretty thin so each Obliviator had way more people than they usually do."

"I'm sorry, Mama," Hajime says, as they head up a hill.

"No need to apologize, baby, it was a long day, but now I get to spend time with you."

Hajime grins and is reminded that his mom is really the best.  They get to the top of the hill, they both stop and catch their breath, when his mother makes a bewildered squawk,

"Ittetsu!"

Hajime follows her gaze to see a man, dressed in a very strange light green robe.  The outfit reminds him of how his maternal uncle dressed when he visited when Hajime was little.  He must be a wizard, Hajime concludes, as the man turns and his eyes light up at the site of his mother.

"Eriko?  Is that really you?"

"Yes, Ittetsu, it's been far too long, I don't think I've seen you since you left the ministry."

The man walks over and gives his mother a hug, and offers Hajime a hand to shake,

"You must be Iwaizumi Hajime-san?"

"Oh, yes," Hajime says, slightly unsure, "Nice to meet you."

"No need to be nervous, dear," his mother laughs, "Ittetsu was a few years younger than me, but we went to Hogwarts together.  We played on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team and worked together at the Ministry for a long time."

"I teach Charms at Hogwarts now, though," Takeda says and after giving Hajime a once-over adds, "You might have me, quite soon!"

"He's starting next term, actually," his mother says, "I can hardly believe it."

"It feels like yesterday you were showing pictures of him as just a little toddler around the office."

"Oh, I remember that.  Kagami always insisted her son was cuter, but he had such strange eyebrows in all those pictures!"

"No one wanted to contradict her, but we all knew she was wrong.  Just last year, one of my less talented students accidentally set their eyebrows on fire.  I told them to do it away from their heads, but some of them just don't quite listen."

The two began to chat and Hajime loses interest after they stop talking about magic and compare notes on old friends and the little things in their lives that can't interest an eleven year old.

Hajime messes with the kickstand as they talk and only looks up when Takeda mentions Hogwarts again,

"I'm actually a Special Messenger for Hogwarts, today.  Have to inform a muggleborn student and their family of their magical ability.  I remember when Professor Nekomata came and told me I was magical, I nearly fainted.  But I should get going."

"Yes, of course, but what's their name?" his mother asks, a large amount of eagerness in her voice, "We're familiar with most people in the neighborhood."

"Let's see," Takeda reaches into his robes and pulls out a letter, "It's a boy named...  Oikawa Tooru."

Hajime drops his bike as his mother whoops.

"Oh, so you know him?" Takeda asks.

"My Hajime and little Tooru-chan grew up joined at the hip," she answers, giving her son a smile, "How wonderful, Hajime!"

"Tooru is a wizard," Hajime deadpans, only catching his use of Oikawa's first name a moment later.  Hajime sits down on the side of the street in shock.

"Indeed, but I do have to tell him that," Takeda chuckles at Hajime's disbelief, "Eriko, we really should meet up sometime, I'll send an owl."

"Oh, definitely!  It's been great seeing you," she agreed, giving Takeda a hug.

The wizard waved as he walked down the hill towards Oikawa's house.

Hajime's mother picked up his bike and set down the kickstand before sitting next to her son on the side of the street,

"I knew it, I knew it when you were both just six," his mother says triumphantly, "This is so exciting!"

Hajime's head is still spinning from the revelation—Oikawa Tooru is a wizard.

"How did–.  Why didn't–.  How could–" Hajime struggles to piece his thoughts together.

"Oh, it was little things, sometimes when you described the magic you accidentally did in front of Tooru-chan it sounded less like you did and more like he did," his mom replies, smiling, "I never told you for fear that he wasn't a wizard and I would disappoint you."

"But his parents are muggles, his sister is a muggle," Hajime says confused.

"There's many types of wizards, Hajime.  There's what's called a pureblood, like me, born from two wizards and whose family have been wizards for generations."

"Yes, you told me about this.  I'm a half-blood because a pureblood married a muggle," Hajime replies, "I know how that works."

"Yes, but I didn't tell you about muggleborns."

"Muggle...  Borns?"

"Yes, witches and wizards born to muggle families.  It's because squibs, I think I've told you, people born to wizarding families who don't have magic, marry into muggle families," his mother continues after Hajime nods, "And after many generations, the magic absent in their squib ancestors resurfaces and children part of muggle families are born just as magical as a witch or wizard born to a pureblood family."

"So, Oikawa is as much a wizard as I am?" Hajime asks.

"Correct," his mother nods her head.

Hajime's hands twitch,

"So, Oikawa is a wizard, and he'll have to go to Hogwarts," Hajime finally realizes, a smile growing on his face.

"Yes, darling."

"We're going to Hogwarts together!" Hajime shouts, leaping up, his fists reaching towards the sky.

 

✦

 

When Hajime and his mother return home, they tell the news to Hajime's father ("You called it, Eriko," he says, looking at his wife admirably) and Hajime goes up to his room and looks out his window.  It's dark out now, but the window into the  Oikawas' living room is lit up and Hajime can hardly imagine how his friend is feeling.  Hajime can't wipe the smile off his face thinking about going to Hogwarts with Oikawa, and when he lays down on his bed to calm down, he finds himself bouncing up and down.

After eating dinner, Hajime calms slightly.  He bombards his mother with questions through the meal:

"If we aren't in the same house, will we get to see each other?"

"Oh, sure.  You always have your classes with another house, so there's bound to be a few classes you share, and during breaks and meals you could see each other."

"Is Hogwarts big?  Will we get lost?"

"Yes, and you get lost at first, but don't worry, the portraits and prefects will help you."

"Portraits?"

"Magical paintings move and talk, you know.  Have I not told you this?  Oh dear."

After his mother is worn out by questions, he's sent up to his room for bed, enough though it's earlier than he usually sleeps.

Hajime looks out his window and the light is out in the living room.  Takeda has probably gone.

He wonders if Tooru is awake, and he probably is, his bedroom light is on.

Sometimes if one of them has a long night, some party with their parents they have to go to, or coming back from a relative's house late at night, he'll put on his bedroom light when he wakes up to alert the other that he's awake and ready to play.

Hajime knows they usually do it in the morning, but he flicks on his bedroom light.

He goes to the window and opens it, leaning out, wondering if Oikawa notices.

Suddenly, Oikawa's light flickers on and off rapidly and Hajime can just make out Oikawa's figure struggling to open his window.

Yes, Hajime thinks, Oikawa is most certainly a wizard, looks at how confused he is by muggle windows.

Finally Oikawa manages to open the window and yells out,

"IWA-CHANNNN!"

"You don't have to yell, just speak a little louder than normal, there's no noise," Hajime says, "You'll wake up the neighbors."

"Oh my gosh, Iwa-chan," Oikawa still almost yells, "Oh my gosh!"

"Yeah," Hajime says, not quite sure what else to add.  There's a huge smile on his face and a huge smile on Oikawa's face, a genuine one.

"I'm really happy!" Oikawa says, "I'm a little scared, and nervous, but mostly excited and happy!"

"I'm nervous too," Hajime admits, "But I'm glad we get to go, together."

"I can't believe you didn't tell me you–" Oikawa pauses, probably remembering they were speaking to each other across their street,

"You were a you-know-what!" he finishes.

"No way I could tell you, Stupidkawa," Hajime replies, "I didn't know you were a you-know-what too."

Oikawa considers this for a moment and nods,

"I'm tired, Iwa-chan, but tomorrow, you have you to tell me all you know about you-know-whats!"

"Of course," Hajime says, "Goodnight, Oikawa."

"Ah, Iwa-chan," Oikawa waves a hand to stop Hajime from closing the window, "Just one thing."

"Hm?"

"Oh," Oikawa looks down at his hands, then back to Hajime, then down again, "When we go off to the school, Hogwarts, I mean..."

Oikawa hesitates for a few seconds then looks straight at Hajime,

"Will you be my friend?"

"What?" Hajime gapes, "What do you mean?"

"You'll still be my friend, right?" Oikawa says, more timidly.

"You're so dumb sometimes, Oikawa," Hajime shakes his head, "I'll always be your friend.  Here, Hogwarts, anywhere.  Just because we're using mag–.  Using you-know-what, it doesn't mean we aren't best friends."

Oikawa's figure relaxes, Hajime can tell even from his view, and he sighs,

"Sorry, Iwa-chan.  I was just–.  Thank you, Iwa-chan."

"Yeah, yeah, don't worry," Hajime rubs the back of his neck, slightly embarrassed, "Goodnight," Hajime waves and Oikawa waves, goodbye this time.

"Goodnight, Iwa-chan.  Sweet dreams."

 

As Hajime lays in bed, he wonders if Oikawa was really afraid they wouldn't be friends at Hogwarts.  Earlier, Hajime had been concerned about the near opposite, Hajime chuckles to himself.

He turns over in his bed and hugs the sheets, it's not a completely misguided thought.  Hogwarts is a large unknown to the both of them, but Oikawa especially.  It was a mystery what it would be like there, and Hajime's sure there will be things they can't expect.

But Hajime knows their friendship won't falter because of that.

Oikawa and Hajime choose to be friends.  It helps they lived near each other, but no one forces them to go over to one another's house almost every day once they are old enough to go play on their own.  No one forces them to continue to be together at school, while they each make their own friends.  No one makes Hajime run over to Oikawa's house every day of the summer to have an adventure and spend every moment they can together:

They're friends, no magic can alter that.

Hogwarts is a change, a challenge, Hajime thinks, but we'll figure it out, we always do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First and foremost, thanks to everyone who gave kudos and thanks to to all who commented, those comments were so lovely, it was wonderful! Also props to my little brother for reading over this for me. He actually hates Haikyuu!! but was quite happy to read this because of his love for Harry Potter.  
> So at last we have our wizards fully revealed, and we'll get onto to Hogwarts soon!! I apologize for a slow start but I wanted a solid buildup of Iwaizumi and Oikawa's friendship and now we're ready for magic and Hogwarts and everything!  
> I've got their houses all decided and the houses of most other relevant characters in their year, I'm quite excited!!  
> By the way, in canon, Iwaizumi's birthday is June 10th, Oikawa's birthday is July 20th, and I was so happy those dates worked perfectly for the story.  
> Next time: Diagon Alley and some actual magic!
> 
> [ my tumblr ](http://www.ladyineia.tumblr.com/)  
> [ my twitter ](https://twitter.com/ladyineia)  
> 


	3. Diagon Alley

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blood, fireplaces, wands, and fate.

Magic has always been around in Hajime's life, something he's taken for granted.  As a little boy, mere sparks from his mother's wand cause his heart to leap, but as time passes, magic becomes normalized.

His mother wordlessly rearranging the bookshelf with books floating all around her, Hajime's favorite hat growing as he gets older, an owl dropping letters by their back door: it's not all that unusual to Hajime.

And then there's Oikawa.

Once Oikawa realizes he's a wizard, he tries to learn everything he possibly can about magic.  He questions Hajime endlessly and any questions left unanswered he brings to Hajime's mother.

He reads Hajime's wizard fairy tales like he would be forced to recite them, he watches Hajime's mother perform showy spells in rapture; the obsession is understandable and Hajime is not surprised by Oikawa's behavior a bit.

It doesn't mean that Oikawa's ignorance isn't amusing to Hajime.

Oikawa paces around Hajime's bedroom while Hajime watches from where he sits criss-cross on his bed,

"Do you think everyone will know a lot about magic already?" Oikawa asks, worry clear in his voice.

"Well, my mom was never shy with magic, but I don't know any spells.  They might know some things that you don't and that maybe I don't know.  Even so, I'm sure you'll be fine."

Oikawa has alternated from excitement about magic to doubts about his lack of experience, like he couldn't decide whether to be happy or afraid.  Hajime has done his best to soothe his anxiety, but Oikawa continues to fret.

Oikawa paces some more before sitting down on Hajime's floor and staring at the Hogwarts letter he has tacked on a bulletin board above his desk.

"It's almost disappointing, Iwa-chan," Oikawa sighs and shuts his eyes, leaning back to lay down on the floor.

"What is?" Hajime asks, puzzled.

"The fact that magic is real, but aliens are not."

Hajime throws a pillow at him.

 

✦

 

Oikawa's parents took the news of their son's magical ability well.

Takeda, as a muggleborn, is understanding of their shock and tries to provide as detailed an explanation as possible.  Hajime's mother talks to them for a long time as well (Hajime and Oikawa attempt to eavesdrop but did not find success).

Hajime's mother has been planning to take Hajime to get his magical supplies and offers to take Oikawa too.  Oikawa's parents agree and say they'll write a check for the Hajime's mother for the cost of Oikawa's supplies.

They discuss galleon to yen conversions, and opening a wizard bank accounts.  Even all-wizard-stuff-is-interesting Oikawa zones out, and the two go outside rather than listen to their parents discuss wizardry finances.

Without really thinking much about it, they start playing volleyball.  As Oikawa is ready to set the ball he stops and goes "oh."  The ball bounces onto his face and to the ground, Oikawa winces as he rubs his face but turns to Hajime,

"Do they play volleyball at Hogwarts?"

"They play Quidditch..." says Hajime, though he knows it's not really an answer.

"Yeah, your mom told us about it, but do they play volleyball?" Oikawa demands.

Hajime pauses, "I'll have to ask my mom, but I think Quidditch is the only sport."

"Oh man," Oikawa whines, "I was hoping to play volleyball on a real team and everything."

"Hey, maybe you'll like Quidditch," Hajime replies, "It does sound pretty cool, doesn't it?"

Oikawa rolls his eyes over-dramatically, as if it's crazy to even suggest Quidditch as a substitute, but after a pause he glances after at Hajime with a small smile,

"A little."

 

✦

 

The night before Hajime's mother is to take them to Diagon Alley, she sits them down in Hajime's room on his bed and stands in front of them.

"Boys, there's something I need to tell you about the wizarding world."

Her tone is serious and heavy, and she pauses before she squats down a little to be eye-level with them.

"You know the terms pureblood, half-blood, muggleborn.  No matter which you are, you're magical, a witch or wizard.  Purebloods aren't inherently better at magic than muggleborns, magical ability doesn't depend on lineage.  Some of the best wizards of our age are muggleborns, some are half-bloods, some of purebloods.  It doesn't and shouldn't matter if you're born to wizards or to muggles," his mother says, slowly and clearly.  She pauses again, and bites her lip, glancing at Hajime and Oikawa, lingering on Oikawa especially before she sighs and continues,

"But magic is old, and some witches and wizards have old, outdated ideas about it.  Pureblood families are the oldest there are, like the family I came from.  Many of them consider themselves to be wizard elite, and consider themselves superior to anyone of lesser blood status."

Oikawa and Hajime exchange a confused and slightly concerned glance at the phrase "blood status."  Hajime's mother shakes her head,

"I'm sorry, I take for granted you don't know these things.  Blood status is whether you're a pureblood or half-blood or muggleborn.  Some call it 'blood purity.'  It just means that some purebloods think they're better than those related to muggles. Half-bloods would be below them, and muggleborns below them.  They call muggleborns 'mudbloods,' because in their minds their muggle heritage made their blood dirty.

"Of course, they're wrong.  Muggleborns are not inferior in any way, but some, I might even say many, wizards think like that.  There's prejudice against muggleborns and even against half-bloods at times.  The founder of the Slytherin house at Hogwarts, Salazar Slytherin, wanted to only admit purebloods, while the other three founders of the school, Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, and Rowena Ravenclaw, thought he was wrong and took muggleborns anyway.  But he started a trend of considering muggleborns lesser.

"There was a time twenty years ago when some wizards who believed in the blood status nonsense began to use dark magic.  They called themselves Death Eaters.  They started killing and torturing people, innocent muggles and muggleborns.

"The Ministry was overwhelmed, and for a long time the wizarding community was in chaos.  I had just graduated from Hogwarts when it all started.  It lasted about five years before the Ministry proved strong and the Death Eaters were killed off or were captured and sent to prison.  A few claimed they were under curses that forced them to commit such horrible acts, mostly those with enough money and influence to get away with it, and they are still around.

"Things have gotten much better.  Pureblood families are few, the available pureblood pool shrinks every year from intermarrying to keep the blood 'pure.'  Half-bloods are the most common kind of wizard now, and marrying muggleborns and muggles helps keep witches and wizards from becoming too inbred.  Still, elitist purebloods persist, as does the bigotry and prejudice.  Slytherin students continue to be mostly purebloods, with half-bloods now as well.

"I expect, Tooru, that you will face some disdain from Slytherin students, but don't let them bother you.  They're stupid blood elitists, don't let their idiocy make you feel bad."

Oikawa is very still and Hajime can see how tense he is.

Hajime's mother takes one of Hajime's hands and one of Oikawa's.

"Hardly anyone is as fiercely prejudiced and terrible as people were in those times, but the stigma lingers.  You two need to look out for each other.  Do you understand?"

The boys look at each other.  Oikawa's eyes are full of fear, and Hajime immediately grabs his hand, and gives Oikawa a look: _I am here with you, I will be there with you_.

Oikawa squeezes his hand and then gives a determined nod, the fear not gone from his eyes, but kept at bay.

"Good.  You two should get some sleep."

Oikawa and Hajime had decided a sleepover would be best to do before they go to Diagon Alley since they'll have to leave early in the morning.

They have a large air-mattress set up on the floor for them to share, and Hajime's mother tucks them in and kisses them both on the forehead,

"Goodnight, boys."

 

The two lay in silence for a long time, both awake, but mute.

Finally, Oikawa whispers,

"I'm scared, Iwa-chan."

"I know," Hajime says.  I'm scared for you, Hajime thinks.

Hajime finds Oikawa's hand under the quilt they're under and gives it a squeeze.

"It'll be okay.  Don't be afraid."

He hears Oikawa take a shuddering breath and sniffle.

"I'm so afraid, Iwa-chan," he whispers, soft sobs between his words.

"It was all a long time ago, Tooru," Hajime says, "Most people are related to muggles now."

Oikawa doesn't seem to notice the use of his first name, but the reassurance helps limit the sobbing.

"I won't let anything bad happen," Hajime says, "We'll be together.  We're best together, nobody can stop us."

Oikawa's crying stops.  He sniffles a few times then squeezes Hajime's hand,

"Thanks, Iwa-chan."

"Yeah."

They lay awake together a little longer, and Oikawa's unsteady nervous breathing relaxes and his grip on Hajime's hand looses as he falls asleep.

Hajime extricates his hand and rolls over.  We'll be okay, Hajime thinks, as long as we're together.  We'll be okay.

 

✦

 

Hajime's mother taps her chin thoughtfully, glancing over at Hajime and Oikawa, eating a quick breakfast of cereal together at the kitchen counter.

Today is the day they go to Diagon Alley to get their school supplies and both Hajime and Oikawa are vibrating with excitement.

Not only will they get wands, they will be completely enveloped by wizards and magic, something neither boy has experienced.

As Hajime takes their bowls and rinses them in the sink before placing them in the dishwasher, his mother groans and turns to the young wizards.

"Alright boys.  I'm debating, we have two options.  I can either take you by apparating right into the Leaky Cauldron where we can get to Diagon Alley, or we can use Floo Powder and go to the Leaky Cauldron's fireplace. Apparition is simplest, and I worry about you using Floo Powder for the first time."

"Sorry, Iwaizumi-san, what's apparition?  I thought it meant ghost," Oikawa says, looking embarrassed at his lack of knowledge.

"Oh Tooru-chan, don't apologize, I'm sorry, I forgot you didn't know!  Apparition is a word for a ghost but it's also a magical skill where a wizard can transport themselves to another location instantly."

She stands up straight and vanishes, appearing on the other side of the  with a crack, and then appears back where she had been a moment ago.  The only sign she moved is that her robes are slightly crumpled.

"Just like that!" she grins.  Oikawa's mouth falls open as he goes "woah."

Hajime's father walks in as his mother explains this, tying his tie,

"Are you about to leave?" he asks, going to his wife and kissing her on the check.

"Morning, darling.  Yes, I think we're going to apparate there and we'll get lun–"

"I'm sorry to interrupt, Eriko," Hajime's father interjects, "But you cannot be serious about apparating with them?"

"What?  Why would I joke?" she tilts her head.

"Not to be unkind, my love, but the first and last time you apparated with me I threw up and almost fainted," he says, "You can't take the kids that way.  I was a grown man then and nearly passed out.  They're so little I doubt their bodies will be able to handle it." He looks to Hajime putting away the cereal box, "They also just ate."

Hajime watched his parents, fascinated.  His mom had apparated with his dad?  His dad has always seemed to have an arm's-length relationship with magic.

However, if his mom has apparated with his dad at some point, he's definitely gotten up close and personal with magic.  He makes a mental note to ask his mom about it later, what did they need to apparate for together?

Hajime's mother frowns and Hajime's father holds up his hands,

"I'm no wizard, and I won't stop you, but I don't think you should."

She shuts her eyes and exhales,

"I suppose you're right, we'll just use Floo Powder."

With a hum, Hajime's father wraps his arms around his wife and kisses her, passionately, and both relax in the other's grasp.  Hajime looks to Oikawa and gags, Oikawa holds back a laugh at Hajime's face.

They part and after giving a quick kiss to his son and a hair ruffle to Oikawa, his father grabs a piece of toast and heads out the door, wishing them good luck.

Hajime's mother reaches for a bag on top of their fire place.

"Alright, Floo Powder.  Easy way to transport yourself, boys.  Faster than by broom naturally, slower than apparition.  All you do is throw a step into the fire," Hajime's mother waves her wand and a flame starts from nothing, "after you throw a bit of Floo Powder in, and say your destination.  Try to keep your elbows close to your body, and it's easiest to keep your eyes closed.  The soot and ash can be quite uncomfortable, but as soon as you say 'Diagon Alley' you'll start moving and you'll be there before you know it."

The boys stand before her, intimidated.

"Now, say with me, clearly: Diagon Alley.  Ready?  Diagon Alley," she prompts.

"Diagon Alley," Hajime and Oikawa repeat in unison.

"Perfect.  Alright, Hajime, I want you to go first, I want to go last to make sure both you get through.  Just throw in the powder, step into the flames, and say 'Diagon Alley.'  Understand, baby?"

Hajime nods, musters his courage and gives Oikawa his bravest smile.  Oikawa looks terrified, but he's clearly trying to hide it, and failing.  He gives Hajime a grimace in reply.

Hajime takes a handful of Floo Powder from the bag his mother holds out, and throws it in the fire.  His mom steps back and Oikawa practically jumps backwards at the green flames that appear in the fireplace.

Hajime doesn't let himself hesitate despite his fear and marches into the fire.  It's hot and cramped, but pulls his elbows close, shuts his eyes, and shouts "Diagon Alley!" as loud as he can.

He felt himself moving very quickly, almost like falling, being sucked downwards.  He felt himself spinning around rapidly and –

Hajime is laying face flat on a cold stone floor.  With wobbly arms, he pushes himself up so he's sitting on his knees and looks around, utterly disoriented.

Two men are sitting at a table just a few feet in front of Hajime, chuckling,

"First time using Floo Powder?" the clearly older of the two men asks, putting down a glass and giving Hajime a smile.  He was at least in his sixties, but had a twinkle in his eye and smile on his face.

"Yeah," Hajime affirms, "Is this Diagon Alley?"

"It's the Floo Network stop for it, yup," the other man nods.  He's middle aged, a bit younger than the other, and holds a can of beer, "Are you on your own, kid?"

"Well, my mom should be coming with my friend soon," Hajime explains, "We're getting our supplies for Hogwarts."

"Hogwarts, eh?" the older one grins, "We teach there you know.  I'm Transfiguration.  This one's Herbology," he yanks a thumb in the direction of his fellow professor.

The other one nods his head, "Irihata Nobuteru, nice to meet you."

"Oh," Hajime says, feeling a little embarrassed to have flopped out of a fireplace in front of his future teachers, "I'm Iwaizumi Hajime."

"Iwaizumi?" the older one sips his drink and tilts his head, "Are you Eriko Ekiguchi–oh pardon–Eriko Iwaizumi's son?"

"Yes!" A lot of Hogwarts professors know my mom, Hajime thinks.

"Ah, yes, I taught her a long, long time ago.  Great student. We kept in touch, went to her wedding.  She's an Obliviator now, isn't she?"

Hajime nods,

"Yes, she works at the Minis–"

He doesn't get to finish that sentence  before he feels someone fly into his back and knock him over.

"Ow," Hajime mutters, looking over his shoulder to see a bewildered Oikawa fallen on top of him.

"That was not fun, Iwa-chan," Oikawa says, attempting to disentangle himself from his friend but being too dizzy to successfully do so.

"Ah, we should have warned you not to sit in front of the fireplace," Irihata reflects then laughs, "Oh well."

Hajime manages to get out from Oikawa and lend his friend a hand getting up,

"Are you okay?"

"A little dizzy, Iwa-chan," Tooru sways a bit as he stands, "But I'll be alright. You make for a lovely pillow."

Hajime hits his arm but lightly, afraid if he really hit him Oikawa would fall over.

They move out from in front of the fireplace and stand a bit to the side, wiping off the soot left on their clothes and Oikawa cleans the ash from his glasses.

Hajime's mother easily steps out of the fireplace in a flash of green a moment later and lights up at the sight of the older man,

"Professor Nekomata!"

"Iwaizumi-san," he smiles.  She looks over to the boys, and Hajime gives her a thumbs up.

"Good work, kids," she says, going over to them and brushing ash off the tops of their heads, "Welcome to the Leaky Cauldron."

"So this isn't Diagon Alley?" Oikawa asks, recovered from the daze traveling caused.

"This is an inn, but the passage to Diagon Alley is right back there, Tooru-chan," Hajime's mother answers, pointing towards an inconspicuous door in the back.

She then turns to Nekomata and they shake hands,

"You look very well, Professor."

"You look good yourself, Iwaizumi.  It's been far too long."

They chat and catch up, and Irihata is pulled into the conversation, while Hajime and Oikawa look around.

The entire place was full of wizards.  Almost all wear magnificent robes and most have hats.  A man comes around and picked up empty glasses by simply waving his wand and levitating them to a tray he held.

One witch sits at a table alone and seems to be charming the buttons on her cloak.

A few cauldrons are scattered around the place, occasionally sending steam and bubbles into the air.  The room is lit exclusively by candles and Oikawa turns to Hajime with a fascinated look on his face,

"It's really magic, Iwa-chan."

Hajime, as taken as Oikawa is, just nods in response.

The two sit at a table for a little bit and play a game where they theorize what the people around them are doing.

"The one charming the buttons, she has a hot date tonight," Oikawa whispers into Hajime's ear.

"Hot date.  With a dragon," Hajime adds.

"And that guy with the pile of books, his cousin is coming tomorrow and he always seems dumber than him so he's reading up on materials to be smarter," Oikawa says, giggling.

"His cousin will seem smarter anyway though," Hajime replies, "You can't change the way you are overnight."

They continue for a few minutes until Hajime's mother comes over,

"I'm sorry, boys.  Professor Nekomata and I haven't seen each other in several years, but we used to be so close, I didn't mean to hold us up."

"It's alright, Iwaizumi-san.  We were fine," Oikawa gestures around, "Just being here is pretty cool."

She gives them a loving smile,

"It must be pretty amazing, being around wizards for the first time."

The two friends nod and stand up,

"It's really cool," Oikawa says.

"Wait until you see Diagon Alley," she winks, and Hajime and Oikawa exchange an excited glance.

They walk to the back of the inn and his mother opens the door she pointed out earlier.  The room is small and all that's there is a brick wall.  His mother steps forward and takes out her wand from her robes.  She taps several bricks clearly in a specific order and then steps back.

As the bricks begin to wiggle and turn and move out of the way, Oikawa lets out a little gasp.  Once they can see through to the other side of the wall, Hajime gasps too.

They step forward through the opening and see a incredible street sprawling in front of them.

"Stay close," his mother instructs, stepping in front to lead them along.

The bricks close up behind them and they set off.

Wizards bustled about, going in and out of shops unlike any Hajime has ever seen.

Cauldrons are stacked up in front of one store, a sign in the window of another has prices for dragon hide and unicorn hair listed.  Cages hang outside anther shop, owls sitting in all of them, hooting as they passed.  A cat and toad sit still on either side of the doorstep, but their eyes follow Hajime.

A group of kids crowd around a display of brooms, bemoaning the price of the latest model.

It's all so magical, Hajime thinks.

They stop in front of a massive building, with "GRINGOTTS BANK" engraved over the doorway.

"Time to get ourselves some money," Hajime's mother says, "Let's go."

Inside, goblins line the room, all working and writing in ledgers only sparing a glance at their party as they pass.  They're strange looking, Hajime notes.  His mother has told him of them before, and how they are excellent with money despite their unfriendly demeanors.

As they enter, he feels Oikawa grab his wrist,

"Iwa-chan, what are these?" he whispers anxiously, staying near Hajime.  Hajime replies quietly,

"They're goblins, don't worry, they won't hurt us.  They run the bank."

Oikawa visibly relaxes and sighs a breath of relief, letting go of Hajime's wrist, but still keeping to his side.

Fairly quickly, his mother talks to a goblin sitting at a large desk at the end of the room about creating a new account for Oikawa and withdrawing money from her own vault.

After some paperwork, Oikawa is given a small bag of gold galleons and told the rest will be put into his vault as it is set up in the next week, and Hajime's mother holds the bag in her robes for him.

They go through a long passage, down into what must be the underground of the bank, and a goblin takes them in hurtling cart along a turning and twisting track to the Iwaizumi vault.

His mother takes out a bag from her robes and scoops several handfuls of gold coins into her bag, from a relatively large pile in the middle of the chamber before the goblin closes it up.

They leave the bank, Hajime and Oikawa with slightly wobbly legs from the cart ride, and their mother pulls out their supply lists,

"Alright.  Let's get the cauldrons first. They're large enough we can put your other books and supplies in there and hold them all that way."

She takes them to the shop Hajime had seen with all the cauldrons earlier, and a nice old woman brings out two pewter cauldrons for the boys.

When Hajime picks up his, he balks at how light it is,

"It's not heavy at all!" Hajime exclaims, holding it up over his head with ease.

"Of course, they're charmed to not be so heavy, you know," the old shopkeeper says.

"Enjoy it for now," Hajime's mother warns, "All your other supplies are going in there."

Next they go to Watari's Wizarding Equipment, run by yet another magical person his mother knows.  They get scales for measuring ingredients, phials for potions, and a magical telescope Oikawa drools over,

"Iwa-chan, imagine what you can see with an enchanted telescope!" he squeals, turning it over in his hands.

"You still won't see aliens," Hajime deadpans and Oikawa sticks out his tongue.

His mother talks for a ridiculously long time with Watari Rika, the witch who runs the shop, but thankfully she has a son Shinji a year younger than them to talk to.

"So, you went to school with muggles?" Watari gapes, "How cool!"

"It's probably not as cool as Hogwarts," Hajime guesses.

"Well, maybe.  I can't wait until I go next year," Watari sighs, "You two are lucky."

"You'll be there in no time," Oikawa reassures him.

They talk more about Quidditch (Watari's seen it before and tries, and fails, to explain all the rules) until their mothers finally finish talking.

Next the go to get books at Flourish & Blotts, and Hajime's mother tells them she works the owner's husband, a man named Tsukishima and knows the wife who runs the shop as well.

Hajime quietly prays that she won't talk to them for a long time, but braces himself anyway.

Every wall of the store has a bookshelf and several freestanding shelves stand in long rows as well.

A bell rings as they enter and a voice from towards the back of the shop yells "Welcome!"

Books are everywhere on topics Hajime has never even thought about: _Dragons of East Japan_ , _50 Plant Charms to Improve Your Garden in Minutes!_ , _Interacting with Muggles: A Look Into the Non-Magical World_ , _Pegasus and Unicorn Breeding_.

His mother guides them to a desk in the back where a woman with light brown held back by a headband sits.

"Eriko?  How lovely to see you!" the woman laughs, standing up and giving Hajime's mom a hug.

"You as well, Manami," Hajime's mother smiles.

"Oh and this must be little Hajime!" Tsukishima Manami claps her hands, "I've heard a lot about you."

Hajime blushes, embarrassed, and Manami laughs,

"Only good things, Hajime-kun."  She looks to Oikawa,

"And who is this young man?"

"I'm Oikawa Tooru," he bows slightly to her, "Nice to meet you."

"So polite, are you heading to Hogwarts as well?"

"Yes, Tsukishima-san."

"He's a neighbor and grew up with Hajime and turned out to be a muggleborn, amazingly.  Now they're going together!"

"Muggleborn, hm?  I'm a muggle, you know," she winks at Oikawa.

"Really?" Oikawa says, "But you live here, don't you?"

"Sure, but I've been living amongst wizards with my husband for over twenty five years now.  I'm quite used to it.  Besides, I can get my husband or my older son to do any magic I need."

A teenage boy walks through a doorway leading to another section of the shop, holding a stack of books.

"Speak of the devil, Akiteru, dear, would you help these two get their first year text books while I talk to Eriko?"

"Sure," Akiteru nods, placing the stack of books next to the desk, "Follow me."

He leads them into another section of the ship, and to a corner with a large sign reading "Textbooks."

"So," he says, as he hands each book of _The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1_ , "Are you two excited to go to Hogwarts?"

Hajime nods but Oikawa hesitates.  Akiteru gives him a bemused expression until Oikawa clarifies,

"I'm very nervous."

Akiteru nods and offers Oikawa a smile,

"I was too.  I'm the oldest child, so I only had my dad to ask about Hogwarts and he never talked about it that much.  But when I got there, I had an amazing time," he hands them each another book, _One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi_ ,

"I saw plants and creatures I had only heard legends about.  I flew around on a broom like a fairy tale.  I did magical things I'd only dreamed of."

Akiteru gets two copies of _Magical Theory_ and thrums his fingers on the cover, unsure how to continue.  He shrugs and hands them each a copy,

"It was pretty incredible, really."

"What house are you?" Hajime asks.

"I'm a Hufflepuff," Akiteru replies, giving them _Magical Drafts and Potions_.

"What year are you?" Oikawa adds.

"Going into my sixth year now," he says, "I'll look for you two, if either of you two is a Hufflepuff, we'll see a lot of each other."

After they get the rest of their books, they ask Akiteru some more about Hogwarts ("Is the food good?" "Yes." "Are the classes hard?" "They can be challenging sometimes." "Is Quidditch fun?" "Oh yes."), before they return to Hajime's mother and Manami.

They are still talking, unbelievably, and Hajime's mother looks at them apologetically,

"I'm sorry, boys.  If you want, you can run over to Madam Madoka's Robes for All Occasions across the street and get your robes fitted, I'll meet you in the Magical Menagerie two doors down and you can pick out your owls."

Hajime practically flies out the door, eager to get his owl, as soon as his mother gives them the galleons for the robes and Oikawa follows a step behind.

 

✦

 

Madam Madoka's shop is large, with robes of all kinds and colors on display around the room.

A woman stands flipping through a few papers next to a register as they enter.  She looks up and gives them a polite smile,

"Hogwarts robes, boys?" she asks, putting down the papers.

They nod and she points them to two stools to stand on in the back, next to another boy getting his robes pinned by a young man.

"Just stand there and the tapes will get your measurements, then I'll pin them."

They go and stand on the stools, Madam Madoka begins work on Hajime first.  A little girl runs over to her, holding several measuring tapes, nervously glancing at Hajime and Oikawa before handing them to the Madam.  They look enough alike that Hajime would guess the girl is her daughter.  She's definitely a few years younger than them, she's tiny.

"Thank you, Hitoka," she shoos her (likely) daughter away and she moves behind her, watching Hajime and Oikawa out of the corner of her eye, but looking away whenever they make eye contact.

Hajime notices Oikawa offers a small wave to Hitoka and she jolts for a second before she raises her hand shakily and waves back.

The other boy getting his robes pinned notices them,

"Hello, you here for Hogwarts, too?"

"Yeah," Hajime says, trying not to move too much so he won't disturb Madam Madoka.

"My parents are getting my books right now," he adds.  His face reminds Hajime of a snake, and he has an eerie smile.

"I want to see if they'll get me a broom, I'd love to play Quidditch, but they don't let the first years," he complains, "Do you have a broom?"

"No, I've never flown," Hajime replies.

"I think they have a class for first years to learn, I've been flying for a long time," he says, "I hope I'll make my house team.  Do you know what house you'll get?"

"No," Hajime says.  (He and Oikawa have debated the possibilities for some time.  Oikawa says he's brave enough to be a Gryffindor, he's ambitious enough for Slytherin, and he's loyal enough for Hufflepuff.  While Hajime is not dumb and does fairly well in school, Oikawa isn't sure he's clever enough to be a Ravenclaw ("You can be a little dense, you know, Iwa-chan."), which earns Oikawa a whack on the head even if Hajime sees his point.)

"No one knows until they're sorted, but my whole family has been Slytherin, every Daishou since the school opened.  It's the best house, really."

"My mother was in Ravenclaw," Hajime says, "I wouldn't agree."

Daishou looks at him with a smirk, "Hm?  Who's your mother then?"

"Iwaizumi Eriko, a lead Obliviator," Hajime retorts.

The boy frowns, displeased,

"She was an Ekiguchi, right?  Not a bad family I suppose.  But she married a muggle, didn't she?"  The way he said muggle is with disdain, Hajime feels anger swell up in his chest.  He feels Oikawa's eyes on him, nervous.

"Yes.  My father," Hajime says, glaring.

"Well, you're half at least," Daishou shrugs, and the man pinning him grunts, "Sorry, sir.  I don't think they should let the truly muggle ones in.  Muggles don't know the wizarding ways at all. They should keep it in the old wizarding families.  Imagine never hearing about Hogwarts until you get your acceptance letter."

Madam Madoka moves from Hajime to Oikawa, and as Hajime spares a glance at Oikawa, he sees him blushing, embarrassed.

Hajime looks back at Daishou, resisting the urge to quickly knock him off his stool,

"You're wrong."

Daishou raises an eyebrow and sneers,

"Am I?  Feeling bad because you're related to muggles?"

"No.  I feel bad for you and that narrow mind of yours," Hajime responds smoothly, "Must be hard to think with."

The good comeback feels less satisfying when Daishou doesn't react, just looks away.

"You're done," says the man working on Daishou.  The boy hops down and hands him a pile of galleons from his pocket, taking a canvas bag holding his robes harshly.  He turns to Hajime,

"I'll see you at Hogwarts, Iwaizumi," Daishou says curtly.  He gives Oikawa a quick look, seeing his flushed cheeks, and gets an expression on his face like he smelled something bad.  Turning on his heel, he leaves the shop without another word.

As soon as he leaves, Hajime growls loudly and murmurs under his breath,

"Asshole."

Oikawa turns, scandalized, "Don't be vulgar, Iwa-chan!"

"It's accurate.  I wanted to punch him," Hajime protests.

Oikawa pauses.  He pushes his glasses up on his face and turns to his friend,

"That was very cool, Iwa-chan.  Talking back to him."

Hajime shrugs, but internally agrees, he was pretty cool back there.

Madam Madoka stands up and the boys snap to attention.  She looks back and forth between them,

"I'll grab your robes in a moment, the measurements are all done."  She pauses and puts a hand on each boy's shoulder, as if she's about to give a speech, then seems to think better of it and leaves to get the robes.

They hop off the stools, and Hajime and Oikawa are alone except for Hitoka, who is staring at Hajime nervously,

"Uhm, Iwa-chan-san?" she asks.  Hajime flinches, mentally cursing Oikawa,

"Just.  Iwaizumi.  Is fine," he grits out. The girl wilts at his tone and Hajime immediately feels guilty, "Sorry, I'm not mad at you, just–" he glances at Oikawa who has a smile that says he finds this amusing and is not sorry for the nickname in the slightest.

"Just mad at someone else."

She seems to brighten a little at this yet still stammers,

"Iwai-waizumi-san.  When yo-you told that b-boy he was narrowed m-minded...  It was v-very cool!"

Iwaizumi feels flustered at the compliment and the clear effort getting out the compliment took, but he smiles despite the blush,

"It was nothing.  He was wrong, anyway."

Hitoka looks around, like someone could be eavesdropping, and then gestures both of them closer,

"My dad was a muggle too," she whispers.  She then leaps back from them like she can't speak any further and waves her hand rapidly,

"Goodbye!"

She dashes through a door labelled "employees only" and is gone.

"She was cute," Oikawa coos.  He has a smile on his face, but there's something a little strained about it.  Hajime nudges him,

"Hey.  Don't worry about earlier."

Oikawa looks at him, opens his mouth as if to argue, then closes it.  He stares at his friend for a moment then chuckles and shakes his head,

"Why is it you always know what I'm thinking, Iwa-chan?"

Hajime is about to reply that Oikawa knows what Hajime is thinking as well when Madam Madoka comes back with a bag for each of them, holding all their robes.  Oikawa and Hajime hand over the galleons they owe and the woman takes them, staring at the two,

"Have a good year at Hogwarts," she says, and pauses before adding, eyes lingering at Oikawa, "Be careful."

 

✦

 

 

True to her word, Hajime's mother is in the Magical Menagerie, looking at owls.  Oikawa is trying to lose an over friendly cat that has decided to follow him when Hajime quickly pulls his mother to the side, initially pretending to look at a toad.  He quietly explains what happened at Madam Madoka's and she frowns,

"Oh, poor Oikawa must have been so flustered.  But I'm proud of you for standing up to that Daishou boy, Hajime.  That family had connections with the Death Eaters back in the day, and they've been rooting for blood purity at Hogwarts for a long time," she tsks, "Ridiculous."

Hajime feels better about the whole thing after he finds a great horned owl that hoots quietly when Hajime gently runs his hand over the feathers.  He names him Hayate and thinks they'll get along well.

Oikawa manages to lose the cat and befriends a snowy owl he calls Shiori.

Hajime looks at his list and grins at the last item: all that's left to get is their wands.

 

✦

 

The wand shop’s walls are crammed with wand boxes, and Hajime has to step carefully to avoid knocking over a pile of boxes near the entrance.

"Hello?" Hajime calls out.

He hears the creaking of wood and an old man comes from an aisle leading back further into the shop,

"Hello.  Welcome to Shimizu's.  Two wands, gentlemen?" the man asks, "Oh, Ekiguchi Eriko, how lovely to see you.  Yours was elm, quite bendy, 10 and a half inches."

"You as well, Shimizu-san, though I am Iwaizumi Eriko now."

"How wonderful, are these your sons?"

She smiles and puts a hand on Hajime's shoulder,

"This one is mine," she puts a hand on Oikawa, "This one is a family friend."

"They look like kind young men," he compliments, "Now, which arm is your wand arm?"

Hajime holds up his right arm and Oikawa follows suit after a second of figuring out what "wand arm" meant.

Shimizu nods, then walks to a wall and tentatively picks a few boxes out,

“Try this one,” he says, handing it to Hajime, “Oak, unicorn hair core, 9 and three quarters inches, flexible.”

Hajime takes it and waves it around, nothing happens.

“No, no, I would think not,” Shimizu takes the wand from him and hands him another, “Ebony, dragon heart string, 12 and a quarter inches, supple.”

In vain, Hajime tries to will the wand to do something, anything.  But nothing happens.

“Don’t worry yourself,” Shimizu reassures him, “The wand chooses the wizard, and we will find a wand to choose you.”

It’s ten wands later when Shimizu returns with a pile he had gotten from the back aisles and hands Hajime a wand with dark wood.

“Black walnut, 11 inches, unyielding, with a griffin feather core,” the man explains, “It’s very difficult to get the feathers, I was given two of them as a gift when I got married, a long time ago.  I’ve only been able to make two wands with them.  Give it a try.”

As Hajime takes the wand he feels a warmth spread through his fingers, and when he gives it a wave, blue sparks shoot out.

His mother claps her hands and Oikawa goes “woah!”.

“Well, we have found your wand, young man,” Shimizu smiles, then he turns to Oikawa, “Now for you.”

Oikawa takes even longer than Hajime to find a wand.  Shimizu seems content, and even excited, to have to hunt down the perfect wand for Oikawa, but Oikawa seems nervous.

“Don’t worry,” Hajime whispers when Shimizu goes back further into the store to find more wands, “We’ll find yours soon.”

Oikawa nods but doesn’t look that reassured.

After about twenty minutes of trying wands, Shimizu finally gives out a thoughtful hum.

“Ah, perhaps it could be…” he trails off and heads to the far right of the room, a ladder magically moving to him.  He climbs up and plucks a red box from one of the top shelves.

When he removes the wand from the box, he pauses before handing it to Oikawa,

"Cedar, slightly flexible, 10 inches," Shimizu describes, "A griffin feather core."

Oikawa looks puzzled at this,

"I thought you only had two wands with that core?"

"I do.  This is one," Shimizu points to the wand box in Hajime's hands, "That is the other.  The feathers in these wands came from the same griffin.  When wand cores come from the same creature like this, the wands are connected.

"Wandmakers call them different names around the world, 'brothers'  or 'partners.'  They all mean the wands' fates are intertwined, as are the fates of their masters."

Hajime stared at his wand box, then at Oikawa.  He and Oikawa are close, childhood friends, and they would likely stay friends at Hogwarts...  But their fates are tied together?  Their destinies?  It seems ridiculous, and a little frightening.  What if their fates are connected, but in a bad way?

But Shimizu then smiles as hands Oikawa the wand and the old man's tranquil expression eases Hajime's worries,

"Fated wands always are more powerful when they work together."

Oikawa waves the wand around and golden sparks shoot out.  He turns and grins at Hajime and Hajime's mother exclaims,

"How excellent, Tooru-chan!"

 

✦

 

They pay seven galleons for each wand and the old man asks them to look out for his granddaughter who is also starting at Hogwarts next term.

The group makes their way back to the Leaky Cauldron where they get lunch.

Hajime's mother doesn't let them touch their wands at lunch, saying they can practice with them once they get home, so instead they feed parts of their meals to their owls who hoot at them lovingly.

When they return to the house using Floo Powder, Hajime manages to land on one leg but not the other and falls over after he loses his balance.  He gets out of the way before Oikawa comes, though his friend stumbles out from the fire place and falls down onto his knees.  His mother walks through a few moments after like it's not difficult at all while holding their cauldrons and cages.

They play out in the yard until dinner time, waving their wands and making sparks and lights appear.

"Hey, Iwa-chan," Oikawa says, "The thing about our wands..."

He stops playing and Hajime stops too.  Hajime wonders if all the things that occurred to him when Shimizu told them the wands' destinies appeared in Oikawa's head too.

Oikawa pauses and seems to struggle with what to say.  Finally he turns to Hajime with a neutral expression on his face,

"I guess you're stuck with me, Iwa-chan."

Hajime shrugs,

"I've tolerated you for this long, anyways."

"Mean!" Oikawa squawks, frowning at Hajime, the tension of the situation gone.

Hajime just laughs and then gives him a smile, trying to say that really, he doesn't mind Oikawa.

Oikawa sees and smiles genuinely back, and Hajime is reminded that despite all of Oikawa's more annoying qualities, he's still loyal and kind and Hajime's best friend.

There isn't really anyone else I'd want to share a destiny with, Hajime thinks.

Oikawa sighs and plops down onto the ground, looking at the darkening night sky,

"Do you think we'll be good wizards?"

It's not clear if he's asking Hajime, or the universe above, but Hajime sits next to him,

"I think we'll be the best."

Oikawa smiles at him before looking back at the first couple stars shining, their reflections glimmering in Hajime and Oikawa's eyes,

"Yeah, I think so too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THINGS!!  
> First and most important: Thank you everyone who has commented, and kudosed, and bookmarked! I cannot express how amazing everyone's feedback was, it motivates me so much—just thank you so much!  
> Second: School has started for me again (unfortunately), so updates may be more sparse, but because of that, I made this chapter a little longer than the last ones to tide you over! I have always written this in the little windows of time I have between things I have to do, and those windows are smaller now, but I'm going to do my very best to get this story done anyway! I'm excited to write this story so hopefully that will help carry me through.  
> Third: This will be quick but I am going to quickly retell the incredibly nerdy thing I did for this story. So like, I complied a list of all the third years characters (so people in Iwa and Oikawa's year at Hogwarts) I thought I could possibly include in the story, this list was like... 28 characters? And this is just third years. So I had this list in my notes on my phone where I had their first and last name, then their house at Hogwarts, and then I added their blood status, and THEN any other notes I had (this varied from a ">:(" by Daishou to a lengthy note for Kuroo). My note was long and not well organized so I was like "I KNOW WHAT TO DO!!" and made an _excel spreadsheet_. This spreadsheet can be sorted by first name, surname, gender, house, blood status... It's... One of the nerdiest things I've ever done... I'm oddly proud of it.  
>  After everyone gets sorted in the coming chapter(s?), I might export it on a google drive spreadsheet so everyone can see all the houses of characters! If people would be interested.
> 
> Next time: Broken pencils and the Hogwarts Express!
> 
> [ my tumblr ](http://www.ladyineia.tumblr.com/)  
> [ my twitter ](https://twitter.com/ladyineia)  
> 


	4. On To Hogwarts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ends, trains, songs, and beginnings.

Oikawa leans over Hajime’s shoulder to read the table of contents in the _The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1_.  The pair have decided to try out some magic using their textbooks.  Hajime’s mom has given her blessing as long as they don’t hurt themselves.  They figure charms will be easiest to do since the instructions for the spell are already in the book.

“We shouldn’t try anything dangerous,” Oikawa muses, “Or you mom will be angry.”

“Yeah, no fire-making charm,” Hajime flips to the wand-lighting charm and sees a warning about setting your wand on fire accidentally, “And no wand-lighting charm.”

“Levitation probably counts as dangerous,” Oikawa says scanning the titles, “How about the severing charm?”

“That one involves cutting,” Hajime explains and Oikawa groans,

“These will all get us in trouble…”

Hajime pauses, looking at the sixth chapter title,

“How about the mending charm?”

“Mending?”

Hajime flips to the page and reads over the description,

“It just fixes broken things.  If we try to fix something already broken, and we can’t, then it’s no big deal since it was broken in the first place.”

Oikawa grins,  
“Let’s do it.”

Hajime finds an action figure with an arm that hangs down sadly and won’t turn and they attempt to fix it.  The pair look over the near circular motion that the spell requires and practice saying “reparo” aloud.  Hajime goes first.

They place the action figure on Hajime’s desk and take out their wands gingerly, ready to go.

“Reparo!” Hajime yells, sounding more nervous than he wants to be.

The figure’s arm whips around and a small bit of smoke appears, and suddenly, his arm is sticking out.  Hajime and Oikawa stare, shocked, before Hajime reaches for the figure and tries to turn the arm.  It moves easily.  Oikawa gapes, Hajime’s eyes get wide.  They exchange a glance,

“OH MY GOODNESS!” Oikawa yells, “YOU DID IT!”

“I DID IT!” Hajime shouts back.

“It works!  You did magic, Iwa-chan!” Oikawa squeals, grabbing the figure and moving his arm up and down happily.

Hajime is practically vibrating with excitement.  He did _magic_.

“What should I try to do now?” Oikawa asks, “I can’t fix his arm unless we break it again.”

Hajime nods, and looks around his room for something he wouldn’t mind breaking that Oikawa could fix.  He decides on a old pencil on his desk and breaks it in half.

“The poor pencil, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa says, but holds his wand ready.  Hajime lays the piece right next to each other on his desk, and Oikawa takes a breath,

“Reparo!”

The two pencils parts zoom together on the desk, and a wisp of smoke appears where they join together.  The boys watch the pencil for a moment, then Oikawa picks it up.  He looks carefully at the middle of the pencil where’d it been broken for any sign of damage.

“Iwa-chan…” Oikawa says, a grin spreading across his face, holding the pencil up to Hajime, “You can’t even tell it was broken.”

Hajime looks from the pencil to Oikawa,

“Oikawa, you did magic.”

“I did magic,” Oikawa repeats, ecstatic.

“We did magic!” Hajime exclaims.

The pair end up breaking and repairing most of Hajime’s pencils for the next hour.  After pencils, Hajime takes apart two pens and they’re able to mend those too.  Watching the ink cartridge, spring, tip, and body of the pen fit together magically is enough to have Oikawa and Hajime silent in awe before they start happily yelping about their work.

They experiment more, breaking the pencils into three parts, then four.  It’s only when Hajime breaks the pencils into as many small pieces as possible that neither he nor Oikawa can mend it.  The pieces move towards each other, but there’s so many little pieces to fit that it quickly dissipates back into little pieces of wood.

Hajime and Oikawa stand, defeated, over a truly broken and ruined pencil.  Oikawa looks mournfully at the pencil before he glances at Hajime with a curious look in his eye,

“Iwa-chan, what if we tried doing the spell together?”

Hajime tilts his head, briefly considering it, and nods,

“It’s worth a shot.”

Oikawa holds his wand out next to Hajime’s, and takes a deep breath,

“One, two, three…” Oikawa counts.

“Reparo!” the two yell in unison.

All the pieces move together faster than any of the previous times they cast the spell, and Hajime picks up the pencil and examines it.  It’s completely fixed.  Smiling, he hands it to Oikawa who grins,

“How cool!”

They run downstairs and Oikawa breaks a pencil in front of Hajime’s mother who blinks and tilts her head, so Hajime waves his wand and mends it, saying “reparo” eagerly.

His mother’s eyes widen and she looks at Hajime, and Hajime is surprised to see tears in the corners of her eyes.

“Mama?” Hajime says, “What’s wrong?”

“Ah, nothing’s wrong, baby,” she wipes her eyes, “It’s just…” She looks at Hajime, then at Oikawa, then back to Hajime, and sighs,

“It’s hard to explain, but I remember holding you in my arms, and you were so beautiful, and so tiny.  And I remember how hard it was to imagine you doing magic, and going to Hogwarts.  Now, you’re so grown up, and you’re doing magic, but to me it feels like only yesterday you were just my little baby.”

She smiles softly at the boys,

“When you have children of your own one day, maybe you’ll feel the same.”

She pulls both of them into a hug and when she pulls away she grins,

“Well, it’s exciting, isn’t it?” she says, “Performing magic for the first time.”

Hajime nods but Oikawa vibrates with eagerness,

“It-It’s amazing!” he exclaims, “And so cool!”

“What you learn at Hogwarts will be even cooler,” Hajime’s mother promises.

Hajime can’t help sharing in Oikawa’s excitement and feels himself start to bounce on the balls of his feet a little.

They return to Hajime’s room and after practicing the mending charm some more, they start to read some of their other textbooks.

Oikawa loves the potion book, looking up all the terms he doesn’t know in a different book Hajime’s mom lends them, _The Magical Encyclopedia_.  Though some parts of what Oikawa is saying are interesting, Hajime finds himself tuning out the details of the bezoars from goat’s stomachs and how they cure poisons.  He vastly prefers the book about magical creatures and self-defense, but it all sounds interesting, even if some things (i.e., dragons, and not goat stomachs) appeal to Hajime more than others.

When he looks up one lazy summer afternoon from where he sits at his desk reading about transfiguration, sees Oikawa laying on his bedroom floor, cross-referencing the magic encyclopedia with _A History of Magic_ and _Magical Theory_ , underlining things he finds intriguing and occasionally reading aloud a fact to Hajime (“Iwa-chan, they have whole villages of almost all wizards!”), Hajime reflects that they’re pretty lucky to be able to learn magic and go to Hogwarts together.  He doubts there will be many other wizard-muggleborn friendships from before the school year even started.

“You’re staring into space, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa drawls and Hajime shakes his head,

“Nothing important.”  Though Hajime thinks Oikawa is pretty important in the scheme of his life.

“Must be because of that empty head of yours,” Oikawa replies, trying to disguise his smugness at his own response.

Hajime grabs a piece of scratch paper, balls it up, and throws it at Oikawa’s head.  His friend squawks and faintly protests, but Hajime can’t find it in himself to be too mad.  After all, annoying though he may be, Oikawa’s his best friend, and Hajime is Oikawa’s best friend, and together, they’re going to have the best time at Hogwarts.  Together.

 

✦

 

The summer feels too slow and too fast.

Both of the boys are enthusiastic to go Hogwarts, and each day they spend hanging out felt like an eternity they had to get through, one day closer to school.

And yet.

There is a strange melancholy in their summer.  The last summer before Hogwarts: it is the end of an era.  Neither Oikawa nor Hajime thinks their friendship will end because of Hogwarts or something equally terrible, but they both know it will change _something_.

Maybe something intangible, something they can’t explain, but something important.  Magic is a whole new world, and they’ve only been dancing in the periphery of it.  Entering a place where magic is anywhere and everywhere, the nature of their life will change.

Hajime knows there’s something irreplaceable about the mundane expeditions out to find beetles; the stargazing during sleepovers, when they really should go to bed; playing with Hajime’s action figures and imagining lengthy, complex backstories and plot lines for their toys; and even hitting a volleyball mindlessly in Oikawa’s yard.

There is a magic, a non-wizardly kind, in their summers before Hogwarts.  Hajime hopes real magic won’t let the other kind he and Oikawa share slip through their fingers.

 

✦

 

August the thirty-first is an a good day.  Hajime gets up early and he and Oikawa play volleyball for an hour before they even have breakfast.  After they eat, they go out to the woods until lunch.  They catch two beetles (and spot one other they couldn’t get), watch ants scuttle along a log, and even see two falcons circling around each other, zooming up and through the rooftops.  Oikawa picks up a few feathers from the ground and twirls them around in his fingers before letting them float to the ground.

They eat lunch on Hajime’s lawn and lay in the grass, cloud watching peacefully.

They bike around their neighborhood, taking the little things in.  The old woman at the end of their street who is always sitting on her porch, reading; she doesn’t spare them a glance.  Murasaki-san who is always gardening waves to them as they pass.  The little girls who are having tea with their dolls in their front yard who extend their pinkies to them.

Hajime knows that he won’t be home again until Christmas, but it’s hard to imagine himself living at a castle in a dorm rather than his own room.  Going to classes with changing staircases and talking paintings rather than walking with Oikawa to school every morning.

When it’s dark enough, they stargaze in Oikawa’s yard and when they see a star that seems to be flickering Oikawa is certain it’s an alien.  They try to find constellations and make up their own after they can’t find any more.  Once it’s dinner time, Hajime gets up to leave and Oikawa gently holds his wrist, keeping him a minute,

“It’s been a good summer, hasn’t it, Iwa-chan?”

He doesn’t look at Hajime, he’s looking at the sky, the moon, the flickering star.

Hajime follows his gaze and watches the endless night spread out above them.

“It’s been great,” Hajime replies.

Oikawa’s alien star flickers, then shines brightly and without halt.  The boys are still, taking in the starlight.

The star begins to flicker again and, with a quiet hum, Oikawa lets go of his wrist and turns to his friend, with a smile on his face.

“See you tomorrow.”

“Yeah, g’night.”

 

✦

 

Summer is swift and fleeting, Hajime knows, as he lays in bed that night, but some days he swore it could have been forever.  He wouldn’t have minded.

 

✦

 

When Hajime awakens, he doesn't hop out of bed immediately like he usually does.  Normally, he raced to get his clothes on as quickly as possible and brush his teeth before getting breakfast.

But today, Hajime spends a few minutes lying in bed, staring at his ceiling, taking in the details of his room.

He looks at the action figures on top of his bookshelf, lined up and ready for battle.  He had debated taking them, maybe just one, but he thought that other kids would make fun of him and they'd get lost.

His eyes trail over to above his desk, where a bulletin board hangs with old pictures and clippings.  There's pictures of him and several with (or just of) Oikawa, a few newspaper headlines for the Daily Prophet that his mother found amusing, postcards from his uncle, drawings of beetles...

As Hajime dresses, he finds himself pensive with an aching sense of fear at leaving his own room, his own house.

He wants to go to Hogwarts, but he doesn't want to leave his home, his parents.

When Hajime's throat chokes up, he stubbornly tries to hold back his tears, but they come anyway, and Hajime simply continues to put on his socks as water rolls hot and steady down his cheeks.

Once he's dressed and the sobbing has mostly subsided, Hajime makes his bed and flops down on it momentarily to let himself breathe and become composed.  He wipes his eyes and thinks of nothing other than how nice and soft his quilt is before he sits up, clenches his fists, and marches to the door.

Though he knows he shouldn't, Hajime pauses before he opens the door, fingers waiting on the handle.  He looks back at his room, a sight he won't see until the winter holidays, and allows himself a last look before he leaves the room and closes the door behind him.  He doesn't look back.

After he brushes his teeth and splashes some water on his face, he goes downstairs to see a plate of pancakes his parents are digging into.

Hajime grabs a plate and his mother smiles at him,

"Sleep well, baby?"

"Fine," Hajime says, pouring syrup carefully over a few pancakes.

"Excited?" his mother asks.  Hajime makes an affirmative noise through the pancakes in his mouth.

"Nervous?" his father says knowingly.

Hajime nods as he swallows, spreading butter across his pancake absentmindedly.

"Don't worry, darling, you're going to do great," says his mother kindly.

Hajime nods but even his mom's words can't stop the swirling anxiety in his stomach.

Breakfast ends and Hajime helps his parents load his owl cage and suitcases into their car.  Glancing across the street, he sees Oikawa and his parents also packing up, who meets his gaze and waves, a little disheartenedly.

It's comforting to know Oikawa is as scared as Hajime is, but Hajime gives a thumbs up to his friend, to reassure Oikawa (and maybe reassure himself too).  Oikawa gives a thumbs up back with a brave, if trembling, smile.

Almost like a caravan, the Iwaizumis family in one car and Oikawas in another, they headed out—off to Hogwarts.

 

✦

 

"Platform nine and three quarters?" Oikawa reads aloud as they move through the station to the platforms, "I didn't see that on the departures sign."

The boys are pushing along their trolleys as their parents stroll behind them.

"That's because it's hidden so that only wizards can find it.  You wouldn't want clueless muggles wandering into an area full of wizards," Hajime's mother explains.

They turn a corner and stand in front of a blank tiled wall.  To their left is platform nine, to their right platform ten.

Hajime and Oikawa, as well as Hajime's dad and Oikawa's parents, look to Hajime's mother who grins,

"The wall is really a door.  You just have to run through and you'll be on the platform.  If you're unsure it's easiest to just run through."

Oikawa pales and Hajime swallows but determinedly looks to his friend,

"Let's go together."

Oikawa exhales and nods, gripping the handle of his trolley so hard his knuckles went white.

"On three," Hajime instructs, "One, two, three!"

Hajime and Oikawa charge forward, and Hajime couldn't help but shut his eyes.  He fears hitting an impact but instead he just seems to keep running until he heard voices.  When he opens them he stood in front a of long steam engine with people bustling along on a platform, he sees Oikawa wide-eyed glancing at the magnificent train and wizards in flowing robes.

"Oh wow," Hajime's father says, coming up behind them with Hajime's mother and Oikawa's parents, who are gaping.

Students are boarding the train, hugging parents, and struggling to put suitcases in compartments.

Hajime's heart is heavy all the sudden and when he turns to look at his mom, she has tears in the corners of her eyes.

Oikawa gives Hajime a smile but moves away with the own parents, and Hajime gladly embraces his mother and father.

"We're going to miss you so much, Hajime," his dad whispers.

"I'm so excited for you, baby," his mother says, pulling back to look him in the eyes, "You're going to do so well at Hogwarts, and I'm going to miss you.  But we're going to write you everyday and it'll be Christmas before you know it."

"Momma," Hajime says, his voice wavering, "Do...  Do you really think I'll be a good wizard?"

His mother hugs him again and whispers in his ear,

"The best, darling.  You'll be the best."

Hajime squeezes his mother one last time, then hugs his father again.

"Knock 'em dead, Hajime," he says, clapping him on the back as he come out of a hug.

Hajime looks over to Oikawa whose mother and father are squatted down at eye level with him, holding his hands and smiling.

His parents help Hajime bring his suitcases over to an empty compartment and Oikawa comes over a moment later and starts to load their cases into the car.

Hajime hands an owl cage to Oikawa when Oikawa's father taps Hajime's shoulder,

"Hajime-kun?" he asks, "Can I have a word?"

Oikawa's father pulls him aside and gives Hajime a smile,

"I might not even have to ask, will you look out for Tooru for us?" he asks.

"Of course, Oikawa-san," Hajime says, "He's my best friend."

"Thank you, Hajime.  My wife and I are so glad Oikawa has a friend like you."

Hajime flushes at the compliment and Oikawa's dad laughs and ruffles Hajime's hair,

"Go help Tooru with the bags."

When they get settled in the compartment, their parents give them farewell kisses and hugs (Hajime’s mother also gives him a galleon for a treat on the train) before going back to the platform, chatting with each other and introducing themselves to other parents.

Oikawa is bouncing a bit in his seat and Hajime has a nervous grin on his face,

"It's really happening, Iwa-chan," Oikawa hums, "It's hard to believe."

"I know.  I wonder what the dorms will  be like.  Or where you put your owls," Hajime replies.

"I wonder how great the 'Great Hall' is," Oikawa says, "Do you think they let yo–"

Oikawa is cut off as the compartment door slides open.  A boy looking their age steps in and smiles,

"Can I sit here?  Everywhere else is pretty full."

His short dark brown hair matches his dark brown eyes and his expression was warm and friendly.

"Sure, we have room.  I'm Iwaizumi Hajime," Hajime smiles back.

"I'm Oikawa Tooru, nice to meet you," Oikawa politely nods his head.

"I'm Sawamura Daichi.  Are you first years too?"

"Yeah," Hajime says, "Are you nervous at all?"

"Definitely," Sawamura chuckles, putting his suitcases on the racks above them, "But I think it will be fun, so I'm trying to stay positive."

Hajime likes Sawamura right off the bat and he can tell Oikawa thinks he's nice too.  Sawamura actually lives pretty close to them (an hour or so away) and expresses some of their awe at the size and scale of Tokyo, particularly the train station.

"Hogwarts is supposed to be big too," Sawamura frowns, "I'll probably get lost the first few days."

"The staircases change," Hajime adds, "It'll be crazy trying to find a consistent way to get to class."

The door slides open again and another boy enters,

"Oh, you already have three," he murmurs, then clears his voice, "Would you mind if joined you all?  It's really full since we're about to leave."

This boy seems as friendly.  He's fairly pale with strange grey hair Hajime doesn't comment on, but he has a gentle demeanor.

Sawamura glanced from Hajime to Oikawa and seeing their looks of assent, he nodded,

"Welcome.  I'm Sawamura Daichi, that's Iwaizumi Hajime, and Oikawa Tooru."

"Hey," Hajime says.  Oikawa gives a wave.

"I'm Sugawara Koushi.  But you can just call me Suga for short."  They help Suga get his bags in as the announcer says the train is about to depart.  As it pulls out of the station, the four boys cram themselves into the window and wave goodbye to their parents.  Hajime can see tears in his mother's eyes as he waves but she's smiling widely too.  Oikawa's parents aren't crying but are waving adamantly to their son.  Hajime sees a man and woman who look remarkably like Sawamura wearing simple wizarding robes and a woman with hair Suga's color in a more elaborate costume waving.

When they settle in their seats, Suga leans forward, eyes alight with curiosity,

"So do you know what house you'll be in?"

Sawamura frowns,

"Well my dad was a Ravenclaw and my mom was a Gryffindor.  I don't think I'm that smart or brave though."

"My mom was a Ravenclaw," Suga says, "Dad was Slytherin.  I like to think I take after my mom, but you never know."  He shrugs.

"My mom was Ravenclaw.  My dad was a muggle.  I'm not dumb, but I'm not sure wisdom is my best quality."

"Your dad was a muggle?" Suga's mouth becomes a small O, "That's weird.  Both my parents were pureblood wizards."

"My mom was pureblood, but my dad was a muggleborn," Sawamura says, "But they sent me to muggle school."

"I'm muggleborn," Oikawa offers, "So I'm not sure what house I'd be."

"Muggleborn, that's interesting," Suga focuses on Oikawa, "Did you not know about magic until recently?"

"Mid-July was when I found out," Oikawa affirms, "It was so crazy to learn that everything I'd always thought of as fairy tales was actually true."

Hajime shakes his head, "Oikawa and I had been friends since we were toddlers and I never knew he was also a wizard until this summer."

"You two knew each other since you were kids?" Sawamura asks to which the pair nods, "I don't know anyone well yet."

"I'm sure you'll get to know people well, especially in your house," Hajime says, "You'll be fine."

The door of the compartment opened and a woman poked her head in,

"Trolley witch—any sweets off the cart?"

Sawamura shakes his head with a grimace, pulling out a sandwich from his pocket.  It looks smushed and sad, Sawamura’s face reflects the state of sandwich.  Hajime, Oikawa, and Suga frown at the sad condition of the sandwich.  Suga pulls out a galleon from his pocket at the same moment Hajime does.

“Four chocolate frogs please,” Suga says, handing the coin over.

“One box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans,” Hajime requests.  His mother would occasionally bring back sweets from the Ministry, and the jelly beans were his favorite by far.

Suga hands them each a frog and Hajime offers the beans to everyone.  Sawamura looks a little embarrassed and thanks them, but they assure him it wasn’t a big deal.

“It’s not like we could spend the money at Hogwarts, anyway,” Suga shrugs, “And chocolate frogs are a worthy investment.”

“If you get earwax flavor you might not even be thankful,” Hajime grins, holding out the box.

Determinedly, Sawamura took a bean and put in his mouth.  His face contorted slightly as he chewed, and he started laughing after he swallowed,

“That was grass.”

“Grass?” Oikawa balked, looking to Hajime, “What kind of flavors are there?”

“The worst I’ve ever had is rotten egg,” Suga smiles, “Soap’s not bad actually.”

Oikawa looks disgusted at the idea of the beans, but Sawamura takes another bean,

“Half the fun is being surprised by what you get, Oikawa,” he says and pops the bean in his mouth, “Hmm…  Mashed potatoes.”

Hajime holds out the box to Oikawa, and Oikawa finally takes one.

He stares at it for a second before eating it.  He makes a gagging sound and sticks out his tongue,

“That was gross.  It tasted like pepper.”

Suga laughs and Sawamura chuckles.  Hajime just smiles.

They take turns eating beans and announcing their flavors until they can’t stand the gross flavors anymore.

Oikawa opens his chocolate frog to eat instead, yelping when it jumps out onto his face and knocks his glasses off.

Sawamura catches it as it leaps for the window and Oikawa fixes his glasses with his mouth hanging open,

“Why did it–.  How–.  It’s chocolate!” Oikawa stammers in disbelief.

Sawamura laughs and hangs Oikawa the frog, then opens and bites the leg off his own frog.

“Cool, huh?  They’re charmed to act like frogs,” Sawamura says, munching thoughtfully.

Oikawa frowns at his chocolate,

“I feel bad eating it now, it’s like a real frog.”

“I will take it,” Hajime says immediately, shoving his own frog in his mouth and reaching for Oikawa’s frog.  Oikawa holds the frog up out of reach and smirks,

“Not _that_ bad, Iwa-chan,” he says and throws his chocolate frog in his mouth.

They discuss the cards they get (Oikawa loves how Newt Scamander seems to move and then just vanishes, Hajime gets another Merlin) when the door slides open,

“Pardon the intrusion.”

A boy stands in the doorway.  He has short brown hair and a neutral expression on his face,

“Excuse me, have you seen a toad?  A boy named Hanamaki has lost his.”

“Okay, that’s not quite fair,” a voice says from behind him.  Another boy leans into the doorway, a grimace on his face.  His hair is such a light brown it looks pink and he is already wearing his robes as he sighs,

“Look, it’s my brother’s frog and he hates me and I was changing and I didn’t lose him, he just ran away and I couldn’t get him.”

“It sounds like you lost him,” Oikawa replies and Hajime, Sawamura, and Suga all nod in assent.  Hanamaki groans,

“No one understands…” And turns and leaves the compartment.

“My name is Ushijima Wakatoshi, I had not introduced myself.  Have you seen the toad?”

“No, sorry,” Suga says, and Ushijima nods,

“If you see the toad, please find me or Hanamaki.”  He bows his head and shuts the door.

“Why would you have a pet toad?” Oikawa asks, “Could a toad ever love you the way a cat or dog could?”

“I don’t know.  Toads are the least popular pet nowadays,” Suga says, “They used to be handy for testing potions on, but now there’s some laws against that.”

They each talk about their own pets.  Suga has an old grey cat named Charm, Sawamura has an barn owl called Alexander III (the origin of the name is apparently a long story) but misses his dog Alpha, and Oikawa and Hajime declare their love for their owls they got when the compartment door slides open again.

Hajime’s happy mood deflates at the sight of Daishou Suguru standing in the doorway, two others stood behind him in the corridor.

A smirk on his face, he looks at Oikawa with a sense of superiority and then glanced around at the rest of them, nodding at Suga who nods back.

“Prefects asked me to tell first years to change into their uniforms, we’ll be arriving soon.”

“Thanks, Daishou,” Suga says.

“Sure thing.  You should be careful that you’re hanging around the right kind of wizard, Sugawara,” Daishou warned, eyes trailing to Iwaizumi with fists clenched and Oikawa with reddened cheeks but giving him a firm stare.

“Oh, I am,” Suga replies with a coy smile, “Don’t worry.”

Daishou’s eyes narrow at him but he turns and shuts the compartment.  Hajime watches their silhouettes move down the corridor before he growls,

“I hate that guy.”

Oikawa grimaces, but says nothing.

Suga frowns,

“Daishou’s family is old, and set in their ways.  I don’t think he’s really a bad person, but his family has only ever encouraged bad values.  We grew up together, he’s a distant cousin.  I just wish he’d really think about the pureblood thing.  My parents don’t care, a lot of people don’t care, but there’s always some…”

“Met him at the robes shop,” Hajime says, “Really made me mad.  Spewing so much crap.”

“He was right about the robes, though,” Sawamura notes, “We should change.”

The four of them are crammed in a bit tight while they pull on their robes, but only once does someone get elbowed (Oikawa, Hajime didn’t mean to whack him, but his friend forgives him with little fuss.)

A voice echos through the train as they finally secure their robes:

“We will reach Hogwarts in five minutes.  Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken separately.”

Oikawa’s face pales, but Hajime gives him a reassuring smile, though there were butterflies in his stomach too.

The train finally stopped and the four boys squeezed through the door, standing puzzled as older students pushed past them, seeming to know exactly what they were doing.

“First years!  Over here, all first years!” a man’s voice booms over the crowd.  Hajime feels Oikawa grab his robe’s sleeve as an older boy shoves past them and Oikawa almost falls over.  Finally they reach a familiar man holding a lantern and waving his arm up in the air.

“Professor Irihata?”  Hajime asks, hoping he remembers him from the Leaky Cauldron.

“Ah, Iwaizumi, good to see you.  You as well, Oikawa,” Irihata replies, “Wait around a minute, we almost have everyone gathered.  First years!”

Hajime and Oikawa tell Suga and Daichi of their less-than-perfect attempts at Floo Powder, much to their amusement.

There’s a shriek from next to them as missing-toad-boy Hanamaki reaches down and picks up a small toad,

“Ai-chan!  Where have you been?”

“Ai-chan?” Hajime finds himself saying.   _Ai_ , love.

Hanamaki turns and walks over to him, smiling,

“Yeah.  He’s my brother’s toad, he named him.  He said it’s because he’s ‘lovely.’  I wouldn’t call him lovely, but when he isn’t running away he’s a nice toad.  I’m Hanamaki Takahiro, by the way.”

“I’m Iwaizumi Hajime.”

Irihata claps his hands just after Suga, Daichi, and Oikawa introduce themselves and everyone takes turns petting the toad,

“Follow me!”

The crowd of first years follow Irihata down a winding path through a wood quietly.  Hajime has to be careful not to trip over his robes, when he looks up as they round a corner and gasps.

A large lake lays out before them, and across it on a mountain sits on castle, lights shining throughout the elaborate building.

“Four to a boat, no more,” Irihata says, herding the group towards several boats sitting just on the shore.

Hajime hops in one and is followed by Oikawa, Suga, and Daichi.  Hanamaki waves at them and hops into another boat with Ushijima and two other boys, one with white spiky hair and the other with black bedhead-hair.

Irihata hops in a boat himself after everyone is in a boat.  Hajime looks for oars to grab, but doesn’t see any.

Irihata shouts, waving a hand,

“Onward!”

 

✦

 

The castle is glorious: the building is made of stone and torches hang on the walls, marvelous statues seem to be around every corner.  Takeda leads them after they exit the boats (Irihata passes them off and leaves for the feast with a wave and a smile).  A hush falls over the first years as they take in Hogwarts.

Hajime can hear quiet chatter, and the faint voices become louder and louder until they reach the largest door Hajime has ever seen and Takeda tells them to stop.

“I welcome you all to Hogwarts.  In a moment, we will enter the Great Hall, where you will be sorted into one of our four houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin.  Your house will be like your family in your seven years here.  You have classes with your house, share a dormitory with your house members, and spend free time in your house common room.

“Each year, you can receive points for your achievements, and you will lose points if you break any rules.  The house with the most points at the end of the year wins the House Cup, a great honor.  Each house has had created wonderful witches and wizards.  I hope by the end of your schooling you will be among them.

“The sorting ceremony will occur in a few moments.  I will come get you in when we are ready for you.”

Takeda gives them all a smile and walks away.

“How do we get sorted?” Oikawa asks Hajime, “I didn’t read about that in any of the books.”

“I don’t know,” Hajime frowns, “It can’t be anything too bad, though.”

“I think there’s a test,” Suga says.

Hanamaki wanders over to them, his frog sitting in the hood of his cloak,

“My brother said it was weird and hard,” he says, “I wonder if you have to do magic for everyone…”

“Do you know any spells?” Oikawa asks the group, “Iwa-chan and I only know the mending charm.”

Daichi and Hanamaki shake their heads.  Suga frowns,

“I know the wand-lighting charm, but I don’t think that would be very helpful.”

“–so stubborn.  I really think we should.  Oh, are those the new students?” a voice says from above.

Hajime glances upward and nearly falls over.  He feels Oikawa grab his arm, both in trying to catch him, and out of fear.

Several ghosts were floating by them, most not sparing them a glance, chatting away as they phase through the walls of the Great Hall.  The one who spoke receives no response except for a few slightly dumbfounded nods.

“How lovely.  Hope to see you around.  As I was saying, about poltergeists, you shou–”

The ghost was cut off as he passed right through the wall.

“Keep moving,” Takeda says.  He returns and gestures to the ghosts, “The students have to be sorted.”

As the last few ghosts go through the wall, Takeda forms them into a line,

“Alright now, follow me,” he announces.

The massive doors to the Great Hall swing open.

Hajime gasps a little as they walk in.

Four massive tables full of students surround them, and a long table at the back seats all the professors.  Candles float through the air, illuminating the room in a soft, warm light.  The roof seems to fade directly into the night sky, stars twinkling.

The group halts right in front of the professors table where a small stool sits, on top of it an old hat.

The hall is silent as the hat suddenly moves, a space opening along the brim.  It began to sing:

 

_I may not look like much,_

_Yet you'll find I'm quite adept,_

_For the founders choose me,_

_An honor I do accept._

_No other bonnet stands a chance_

_against my knowledge and wits._

_I am the Hogwarts Sorting Hat_

_And I can see which house fits._

_I can see all your thoughts and wishes,_

_there's nothing I miss._

_I'll know your place and tell you:_

_Your house shall be this._

_Perhaps you'll be in Gryffindor,_

_of the courageous and daring._

_Strong wills and their passion define them,_

_and with the brave are they erring;_

_Maybe you'll be in Hufflepuff,_

_the loyal and the fair._

_Their patience and their kindness_

_are far beyond compare._

_Perchance you are in Ravenclaw,_

_with their curiosity and sharp minds._

_With their wisdom, there is no limit_

_to what their cleverness may find._

_You might be in Slytherin,_

_determined and ambitious._

_Their cunning and resourcefulness_

_make their students quite auspicious._

_Slip me onto your head,_

_I'll take a look within._

_Have no fear, you are ready;_

_let the sorting now begin!_

 

The hall bursts into applause and the hat bows slightly.

Hajime feels a sense of relief, and sees the students around him become less tense.  He just had to put a hat on, that was easy.

Takeda stands next the stool, now holding a roll of parchment,

“When I say your name, please come and sit on the stool to be sorted,” he tells them, “Aihara Mao!”

A girl with brown hair pulled back in a ponytail walks up to the stool, sat down, and put the hat on.

The hat sits on her head for less than ten seconds before shouting,

“RAVENCLAW!”

A table to Hajime’s left cheers and Aihara goes and joins her fellow housemates.

“Asahi Azumane!”

The most timid looking boy Hajime has ever seen puts on the Sorting Hat with shaking hands and as soon as it touches his head the hat shouts,

“HUFFLEPUFF!”

The closet table on right cheers and claps, and several older students pat Asahi on the back as he sits down.

Bokuto Koutarou, one of the boys who was in Hanamaki’s boat earlier, goes to Gryffindor.  He is greeted by thunderous cheering from the table on the far left, and walks over with a grin on his face.  Daishou Suguru goes to Slytherin, looking smug, (the hat says Slytherin before the hat is even fully on his head), and Hajime is not surprised in the least.

Hanamaki goes to Gryffindor too, who sits next to Bokuto with a smile.

A girl named Hirama and a boy named Hiroo go to Slytherin.  A boy named Ikejiri Hayato goes to Hufflepuff and then–

“Iwaizumi Hajime!”

Oikawa gives Hajime a big, confident smile and whispers,

“Good luck, Iwa-chan.”

His voice is so sure, absent of any nervousness, Hajime feels Oikawa’s faith and trust in him.  He is filled with determination and he walks to the stool and puts the hat on.

“Oh, let’s see,” a small voice says, and Hajime flinches in surprise at hearing talk to him,

“Bravery, oh yes.  Not excessively clever, but not a terrible mind.  And so loyal.”

Hajime droops a little, wondering if his mom will be disappointed if he’s not Ravenclaw.

“Ravenclaw, eh?  You are not a stupid boy, and you will do well in school, but your desire to do what’s right, your strong will, your fierce courage, there is much to be proud of in being a GRYFFINDOR!”

The hat shouts the house to the whole hall and Hajime removes the hat as his fellow Gryffindors whoop and cheer at their table.  One blond girl with a wild grin gives him a high five as he passes her.  He sits down next to Hanamaki who gives him a thumbs up as the room quiets again as a boy named Kai Nobuyuki gets sorted.  He joins the Hufflepuffs and the Sorting continues on.

Most people are sorted fairly quickly, a boy who eventually gets sorted named Kuroo wears the hat for a good three and a half minutes before it finally put him in Slytherin, but everyone else is sorted in under a minute or so.

After a boy named Numai Kazuma, Hajime waits.  If they’ve reached the Ns, it can’t be long now.

“Oikawa Tooru!”

Hanamaki nudges Hajime and whispers,

“What house would you say?”

“I’m not sure,” Hajime replies, “He’s really sharp, maybe Ravenclaw?  He’s also brave and loyal, though.”

Hajime would say Oikawa would be a Ravenclaw, but a selfish part of him wants him to be Gryffindor.  He feels lucky that Oikawa even came to Hogwarts with him in the first place, and yet it would be even better if he was in Gryffindor.

Oikawa’s face is focused and as the minutes begin to pass, his face becomes more intent.

The hat deliberates longer than anyone who went before.  Kuroo had been longest, in a bit under four minutes, but Oikawa is past four minutes already.

Hajime squeezes his own hands under the table, worrying.  Is something wrong?  Why is it taking so long?

“A hat stall…” a student across from him murmurs.

“Must be really debating where to put him,” someone else adds.

Almost six minutes had passed when Oikawa shifts in the chair and his face’s resolved expression vanishes as he blanches.  Oikawa looks alarmed, and, even more unsettling, afraid.

Hajime feels his stomach drop as the hat bellows,

“SLYTHERIN!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> rip Oikawa, I'm sorry  
> IT'S BEEN TOO LONG! I meant to post this Friday. Then Saturday. Now it's Sunday night... But this is out now!  
> Thank you to everyone who has commented and given kudos and bookmarked and subscribed! Honestly, when I see I got a comment or kudos I get so happy and gleeful and I cannot thank you all enough.  
> We've finally got to Hogwarts, and I am glad we can get to the fun magic stuff now! (no more waxing poetic about summer, lol) Best part of this chapter for me was writing that Sorting Hat song, oh my god, that was a blast. If you are curious about other houses of characters [ here is a spreadsheet I made with their houses. ](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1W2UtCdKMLeeYpliu_WyO2jj5Mf_l4L6vw95nVkaZwn0/edit?usp=sharing)  
> Last thing: I don't have a beta for this story, I usually get my little brother to read over it, but he's not that interested in Haikyuu or iwaoi (he does it anyway, bless him). SO I am looking for someone who likes Haikyuu!!, iwaoi, and Harry Potter and would be willing to beta this story. Honestly, I really just want another set of eyes to read over it before I post it for grammar (verb tenses, commas, sentences that don't make sense). If you are interested or know a beta who would be willing to help me out, holler at me on [ my twitter ](https://twitter.com/ladyineia) or [ tumblr ](http://ladyineia.tumblr.com).  
> Anyways, I hope everyone has a nice Thanksgiving holiday if you're in the US, or just a nice day if you live elsewhere!


	5. Day One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Classes, friends, light, and a promise.

Oikawa stands up, his legs shaky, and removes the sorting hat from his head.  His face is pale, his expression conflicted between fear and a resigned calm.

The Slytherin table bursts into cheers, but Hajime wonders if they would still celebrate if they all knew Oikawa’s heritage.  Hajime leans to see Oikawa between the heads blocking the way, but he can’t get a clear view.  He hopes Oikawa has someone to sit with, at least.

“Do you know him?” Hanamaki whispers as a boy named Oohira Reon goes up to get sorted.  “He was in your compartment, right?”

“We were neighbors.  I’ve known him since I was really little.  He’s muggleborn, so—”

“HUFFLEPUFF!” the hat shouts.

“Muggleborn?” Hanamaki says, aghast, over the cheers of the Hufflepuff table.

“Muggleborn,” Hajime repeats.  “I didn’t think Slytherin took any muggleborns.”

Bokuto, sitting on Hanamaki’s other side, turns to them.

“Wait, that Oikawa guy was a muggleborn?”

“Apparently,” Hanamaki says.  “I can hardly believe it, though.  Has that ever even happened before?”

“I don’t think so.  He’s going to have a tough time.”  Bokuto frowns.  “Man...”

“GRYFFINDOR!”

Hajime looks up to see a girl come and sit across from the three boys.  She offers them a smile, and Hajime smiles back as best he can—he can’t stop worrying for Oikawa.

Tuning out the sorting, he tries to understand how his best friend could be a Slytherin.  From everything he’d read, everyone he’d talked to, everything his mother had told him Slytherins seemed bad.  But Oikawa isn’t bad.

Salazar Slytherin’s primary concern for his house was one’s heritage.  Then, out of the pureblood pool, he picked the most ambitious, cleverest, most determined, and most resourceful students.  Hajime considers those traits.  Oikawa is certainly ambitious, highly clever.  He’s always been determined and driven.  If Hajime ignores his blood status, Oikawa fits.  But how can you ignore blood status with Slytherin?

“Hey.”

He is taken out of his thoughts when Sawamura Daichi sits down next to him; he hasn’t been paying attention, but he’s glad to have Sawamura in his house.  Hajime gives him a small smile, and Sawamura smiles back, but he has a concerned expression.

“Iwaizumi, didn’t Oikawa say he was a muggleborn?” he whispers.

“He is,” Hajime replies.

“But he was put in Slytherin…” Sawamura says, looking confused.

Hajime shrugs helplessly.

The sorting continues, and Hajime makes an effort to pay more attention.  He recognizes a girl named Shimizu Kiyoko, granddaughter of the wandmaker Shimizu, who is sorted into Ravenclaw.  A few more new Gryffindors join the table: a girl named Shirofuku and a girl named Ijie, as well as Ushijima.  The last to be sorted is a boy named Yaku, who goes to Ravenclaw with thunderous applause.

The man at the center of the professors’ table at the back of the room stands up.  He looks fairly old with short grey hair, but he has a kind smile and a twinkle in his eye.

“Welcome all to Hogwarts!  As many of you know, I am Professor Ukai, headmaster here.  Now that the sorting has finished, let’s eat!  Thank you.”

The room claps, and Hajime feels his mouth drop open as plates and plates of food appear all around him.

There’s sushi, sashimi, tempura, oden, ramen, rice, and—to Hajime’s delight—agedashi tofu.  His mother had lovingly spoke of the feasts, and Hajime can understand why.  Hajime looks across the room and manages to see Oikawa.  He is devouring some milk bread (of course, Hajime thinks), and he’s slightly isolated completely to his right, with Daishou and a cluster of first year Slytherins sitting a ways down from him.  But a few other first years are sitting with him on his left.  It doesn’t look like they are talking, but at least Oikawa isn’t completely on his own.  His face looks slightly sad, but there’s resolve there too.  Hajime loses sight of him as a Hufflepuff boy’s head obstructs his view, but he feels a little better.  Oikawa doesn’t give up; he's always kept going through whatever has happened to him, and that isn't going to change now.

Hajime is still worried, but he focuses on the food and his housemates.

Hanamaki seems pretty level-headed…  unless he’s cracking jokes, in which case he makes himself—and sometimes others—laugh.  Sawamura seems like a no-nonsense type of guy, but he has a good naturedness that makes him very approachable.  Bokuto is loud and excitable and endlessly energetic (Hajime is slightly concerned about having to share a room with him).  Ushijima is quiet but occasionally offers an insightful, peculiar thought to their conversation.

“I’ve wanted to go to Hogwarts since my brother went,” Hanamaki explains as he inhales some noodles.  “But I’ve had to wait so long because he’s way older than me.  He graduated two years ago.”

“I’m the oldest, so my sisters and brother were super jealous.”  Bokuto grins.  “Both my parents are wizards, though, so they told me all about Hogwarts.”

“My younger sister was sad I was leaving,” Ushijima says.  “She wanted to come with me.”

Bokuto and Hanamaki ‘aww,’ and Sawamura gives a gentle smile.  Hajime feels himself smiling too.

Dessert appears, and the boys ravenously eat the variety of sweets that lie before them.

Some of the upperclassmen around them introduce themselves, partly to be polite and welcoming and partly to be able to lean over and steal the cake and pies that have appeared only at the first years’ section of the table.

Hajime doesn't mind though, and he feels absolutely stuffed after eating some pie on top of the delicious dinner.

Once everyone has pretty much finished eating, all the plates disappear and Professor Ukai stands again.

“Before we dismiss you to your dorms, a few announcements and reminders.  First years, and some of our more mischievous upperclassmen, please note that the forest on grounds is off limits to all students.”

An older girl with short blond hair a few seats down from Hajime snorts and tries to cover up her wide grin with her hands.

“We must also remind you that magic is not to be used in the corridors between classes.

“Quidditch trials will begin next week.  Please contact Coach Ukai if you are interested.

“And finally, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is prohibited to anyone not looking for a painful and tragic death.”

Hajime smiles, assuming his words are a joke.  He is surprised to see none of the older students look as amused.

“Now off to bed with you!” Professor Ukai says, sitting down.

An upperclassmen with a shiny P button on his chest comes over to where all the first years are sitting.

“I’m Ogawa,” the boy says.  “I’m one of the Gryffindor prefects.  I’ll show you guys to the common room.”

They follow him out of the Great Hall.  Hajime takes one last look across the room to try to see Oikawa through the mass of people leaving, but it's impossible.  Resigned to hopefully seeing him sometime tomorrow, Hajime walks along with the other first years, up and up a seemingly endless amount of stairs.

Moving paintings line the walls, and even though Hajime has seen wizard paintings before at his uncle’s house, he can't help the awe that swells up in his chest as they smile or wave at him as he passes.

Hajime is attempting to remember the way from the Great Hall to the common room as they climb a staircase when suddenly the floor shifts underneath him.  Grabbing onto the railing, Hajime keeps his balance, but Hanamaki behind him almost falls onto him.  Hajime holds out his arm, and Hanamaki grabs it thankfully.

“Thanks, Iwaizumi,” he breathes, straightening himself up and taking the railing.

“No problem,” Hajime replies.

“Be careful—the staircases are always changing,” the prefect warns.  “You'll get used to it after a while.”  
Hajime is slightly annoyed the prefect didn't warn them earlier, but his irritation fades away as they make their way down a corridor and stop in front of a painting of a large woman.

“Do you have the password?”

“Lapsus memoriae,” the prefect says.

The lady nods, and the painting swings forward.

Hajime is immediately struck by the common room.

It is decorated almost entirely in a deep red, with gold details everywhere.  There’s a huge fireplace filling the room with heat, and comfy chairs and couches are scattered around.  A few older students are sitting and chatting quietly, but it seems most students have gone straight to bed.

The room is warm, literally, but it's also homey, welcoming.  Hajime feels as if he could sit right down and fit into the rhythm of the room without any effort.  He glances at the other first years, who all have a similar comforted look on their faces.

We can belong here, we can fit in here, Hajime thinks.

An older female student takes the first year girls up one staircase to their dormitory, and the prefect leads the boys up another to their dorms.

At the top of the stairs, they enter a room with five four-poster beds, all adorned in beautiful burgundy curtains.

Next to each bed is a dresser and a trunk—Hajime spots his own by one of the beds next to the window.

The prefect says, “All your belongings should be here already.  Breakfast starts at seven and ends at nine-thirty—your schedules will be handed out then.  Bathrooms are two doors down, on the left.  If you need anything, I, and the rest of the older students, are just down the hall.  G'night.”

He leaves and the boys walk to their respective trunks.

Hajime changes quickly, slightly self-conscious with other the other boys around, but he sees all of them are a little nervous too.  Except for Bokuto, who is grinning.

“Man, the food was so good at the feast,” he says, pulling his arms through his pajama sleeves.  “I can't wait to see our schedules!  I wonder what classes we have tomorrow.  I hope we have Charms—I want to learn spells right away!” he blabbers.

Hajime and Sawamura are nodding politely as he talks, mostly to himself.  Hanamaki has already left to brush his teeth, and Ushijima has already laid down and gone to sleep.

After brushing his own teeth, Hajime flops onto his bed.  Bokuto stops chatting, too tired to carry on conversation any longer.

Sawamura turns the light off, and Hajime stares at the top of his bed.  He wonders if Oikawa felt as welcome as he did when he first stepped into the common room.  He doubts it.  Maybe Daishou isn’t in his dorm, at least.

He shuts his eyes and silently sends good wishes to Oikawa, hoping they reach him wherever the Slytherin dormitories are.

 

✦

 

Breakfast the next morning is fairly chaotic.  Hajime, Sawamura, Hanamaki, Bokuto, and Ushijima all get up at around seven and head down to breakfast as a group, following a group of fifth years as a guide.

Breakfast isn't as grand as the feast from the night before, but Hajime practically inhales a plate of waffles anyway.  It's good, and Hajime wants to have energy for the day.

A man who looks to be in his twenties and is dressed in a navy robe comes up to them, holding a stack of papers.

“Uh, first years?” he asks, surveying their little group.

They all nod.

“I'm Coach Ukai, head of Gryffindor House.  If you guys ever have any problems or need to talk about something, you can come to me.  These are your schedules.”

They each get a schedule with their name on it, but the classes are all the same.  Hajime figures everyone in the same house must have the same schedule.

Hajime finds the day, Wednesday, and runs his finger over the classes: Herbology, Transfiguration, History of Magic, and Charms.

“I know it says you have Astronomy tonight, but those lessons will actually start next week.  So you can ignore that,” Ukai explains.  “Do you understand the schedules?  Any questions?”

Ukai’s voice is kind, and he has a smile on his face.  Hajime is glad a nice professor is in charge of the Gryffindors.

“No, thank you.  What class do you teach, sir?” Sawamura asks.

“Ah, I just do flying lessons with you first years, so not any of the main classes.  I'm the Quidditch coach, though, so I help the teams train and referee the games.”

“Cool!” Bokuto says, a wide smile on his face.  “I love flying.  My dad taught me how to use a broomstick when I was little.  I kept falling off at first, but then I figured it out.”

Ukai laughs and promises to give Bokuto tips to avoid falling before he moves to the next group of students to hand out schedules.

After everyone finishes eating around nine, they have forty-five minutes before their first class (Herbology) starts.  The “greenhouses” are listed as the location for the class, but none of the boys have any idea where those are.  They team up with the Gryffindor first year girls to find the classroom, asking older students and paintings for directions.

It takes them a good half hour to find the greenhouses, finally making it outside and seeing them, reflecting the sunlight, just as the first warning bell rings.

The Gryffindors enter the greenhouse to see some Ravenclaws already there, waiting for class to start.

Hajime sees Suga, who waves, and Hajime walks over to him.

“Hey, Suga.”

“Hey, Iwaizumi!  Isn't the castle crazy?  It took me and Yaku—oh, this is Yaku,” Suga says, gesturing to a small brown-haired boy next to him, “—ten minutes to figure out how to get to the greenhouses.”

“Hi, I'm Yaku Morisuke,” he says, nodding politely.

“Iwaizumi Hajime,” Hajime replies, nodding back.  “All us Gryffindors came here together.  It took us a while, too.”

“Hey, last night, did you see Oikawa get sorted into Slytherin?” Suga asks, his tone getting a little serious.

Hajime feels his chest tighten a little.

“Yeah.  I did.”

“I hope he's okay,” Suga says.  Yaku has a confused expression on his face, and Suga turns to him.

“Oikawa was in the same compartment as us on the train.  He's a muggleborn.”

Yaku’s eyebrows furrow.  “And a Slytherin?”

Suga shrugs, and Hajime tries to smother his worry, but he can't shake the feeling.

The bell rings again, and someone claps their hands.

“Everyone?”

Hajime turns to see Professor Irihata standing at the center of the greenhouse, wearing an apron and gloves.  The sight of him and the beginning of class are a welcome distraction from Hajime’s anxiety.

“Welcome to Herbology Class.  I'm Professor Irihata.  Let's begin.”

 

✦

 

The morning goes quickly.  Professor Irihata’s Herbology class is fun.  Irihata is kind and tries to remember all their names (and fails, though since he has met Iwaizumi before, he manages to get his name right).

Next is Transfiguration with Professor Nekomata, who makes no attempt to learn their names, assuring them he’ll “learn them by third year.”  They have the class with the Hufflepuffs.  Professor Nekomata turns into a cat, much to the delight of his students, and has them take some notes on the theory of Transfiguration.  They also attempt to turn matches into needles.  Hajime’s sharpens a bit and the sides turn a little silver, but Hajime feels slightly underwhelmed that the person to animal transfiguration Nekomata showed them is something far out of reach for the foreseeable future.

At lunch, Hajime tries to look for Oikawa but can't see him in the swarm of students at the Slytherin table.  As he eats some chicken ramen, he hopes that one of his afternoon classes is with the Slytherins.

After lunch is History of Magic—with the Ravenclaws again, to Hajime’s slight disappointment.  Though the content is fairly interesting and Professor Manabu’s voice is eager, he only lectures, and Hajime finds himself growing bored as he diligently takes notes.  Hanamaki is sitting next to him, and when Hajime glances at his notes, there’s about three lines of actual notes and then a rather nice doodle of a dragon sleeping.

Hajime leans over and draws a thumbs up next to the dragon to show his appreciation.  Hanamaki gives him a smile, and then Hajime gets back to doing actual notes, trying to follow along with Manabu’s explanation of goblin-giant relations leading up to some kind of cross species war.

 

✦

 

The last class of the day is Charms, and Hajime walks down a corridor with the other Gryffindor boys to the class.

“Ah, I can't wait to learn some actually handy spells,” Bokuto says, a wide smile on his face.

“Charms does seem to be one of the most practical classes,” Ushijima adds.  “All the spells from the textbook looked useful.”

Hajime nods along, but he’s not really paying attention.  They’ve had classes with the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs.  Surely one of their classes has to be with the Slytherins?  Or more specifically, Hajime thinks, with Oikawa.

When they reach the Charms classroom, Hajime immediately feels himself brighten at the sight of green trim on robes.  The class seems to have segregated itself already.  The Slytherins are gathered on the right side of the room, and the Gryffindors on the left.

Hajime scans the Slytherin side and spots Oikawa sitting off by himself.  He’s seated far away from anyone else, in the back corner.  His hand rests on his cheek, and he’s staring at the desk glumly.

It’s a little unnatural to see Oikawa so isolated.  In school with muggles, Oikawa had always attracted people.  He was always all smiles and friendly to those who were friendly back, and in elementary school, there was never a reason not to be.  Though Hajime is well aware Oikawa can be annoying, he’s extremely likable.

But the Oikawa sitting alone, devoid of cheer, is a dispiriting contrast to the Oikawa Hajime knows.

“Hey, there’s Oikawa,” Sawamura says.  Oikawa glances up at the sound of his name, and his face lights up at the sight of Hajime.

“Iwa-chan!” Oikawa says, slightly loudly.

A group of Slytherin boys look over at Oikawa’s outburst and snicker.  Hajime can see Oikawa struggling to prevent a frown from taking over his face, his mouth twitching slightly, but the excitement in his eyes remains.

“Oikawa,” Hajime greets, walking over to him with Sawamura and Hanamaki at his side.  “Are you okay?”

Oikawa does his best fake smile, and Hajime manages to keep himself together at the sight of it.  A perfect, completely and utterly ingenuine smile; it’s a sad sight.

“I’m fine.  It hasn’t been…” Oikawa pauses, the smile flickering for just a second, the happy look leaving his eyes.  Hajime exchanges a glance with Sawamura and Hanamaki—they also seem to recognize Oikawa’s putting on a front.

“It hasn’t been so bad,” Oikawa says, recomposing himself.  “We had classes with the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws in the morning.  None of the Slytherins seemed to want to work with me, but the Hufflepuffs were nice.  I worked with a boy named Oohira-kun.  I saw Suga-kun too, although I ended up working with a boy named Matsukawa.”

Oikawa smiles at Hajime and adds, “But now I can work at Iwa-chan!”

Hajime can’t help but smile back and sits down next to Oikawa.  He wonders if Hanamaki, who he had worked with in all of the classes so far, will be upset, but as he turns to look he sees Hanamaki and Daichi sitting on his other side.

Hajime turns back to Oikawa and says quietly, “Are you really okay?”

Oikawa meets his eyes and, under the force of Hajime’s gaze, the smile he’s put on slowly fades.  Oikawa sighs.

“Today during classes it honestly wasn’t so bad.  I had people to work with.  Last night was…” Oikawa trails off, his gaze wandering to the table in front of him.

“Is Daishou in your dorm?” Hajime whispers.  Oikawa shakes his head, much to Hajime’s relief.

“No, thankfully he isn’t.  They split us into two groups, and he and the nastiest of the other first years are in that one.  No one in my dorm has been outright mean to me, but none of them have bothered me.  They just haven’t reached out to me either.”

“It’s only the first day,” Hajime offers.

“None of them even told me their names.  Not one,” Oikawa says, resting his hand on his cheek. “They’re giving me the silent treatment.  All the others are either openly hostile or give me glares of disdain or looks of pity.  I don’t want any of that.”

Oikawa looks more annoyed than depressed.

“That’s awful,” Hajime says.

“Yeah,” Oikawa hums in agreement, tracing shapes on the desk

“I’m sorry,” Hajime adds.

Oikawa turns to Hajime, a soft smile on his face.

“Why are you apologizing Iwa-chan?”

“It just felt right,” Hajime answers.

Oikawa nods, but his little smile doesn’t fade, and Hajime hopes it means he gave Oikawa some comfort.  Professor Takeda walks by them to the front of the room, giving the pair a smile as he passes.

He claps his hands at the front of the room, and suddenly all the candles around the room are set alight.  Oikawa and Hajime let out a simultaneous gasp, Oikawa’s face filling with delight.

“Let’s sit down, everyone.  Then we can get started,” Takeda instructs.  “We won’t be lighting candles quite yet, but we will be learning the wand-lighting charm, or _lumos_.”

Oikawa eagerly takes out his wand, and Hajime follows suit.

The excitement to learn on Oikawa’s face makes Hajime feel a little better.  Maybe if he has Hajime, other friends, and magic—maybe that will be enough.

 

✦

 

They hadn’t really been assigned much homework, and it’s only the first day, but Hajime, the other Gryffindor boys, and Oikawa wander out to an empty courtyard and sit down to work together.  Suga and Yaku spot them as they walk by and join them.

All they have to do is some reading, which doesn’t take anyone long, and practice casting the wand-lighting charm, which they do by competing to see who can create the brightest light.  After putting their books down, they sit in a big circle comparing their magic, Oikawa on Hajime’s left and Hanamaki on his right.  Ushijima seems to be able to make his the brightest, but then Suga is able to make his glow the same amount and for _longer_.  Oikawa keeps his glowing the longest, though it isn’t as bright as Ushijima’s or Suga’s.

A few older girls walk by them and giggle, cooing at how cute the “tiny first years” are.  After they leave, a Gryffindor fifth year with honey blonde hair passes by the courtyard.  When she notices them, she comes over.

“Having fun?” she asks, a grin on her face.

“Yeah” Sawamura says, nodding along with everyone else.

“Just thought I should warn you guys that dinner starts at six, which is in ten minutes,” she says.  “It’s not a feast again, but you still won’t want to miss it.  I’m Tanaka Saeko by the way.”

“Thank you,” Hajime says.

“No problem, see you all around,” she says, waving and walking out of the courtyard.

Oikawa sighs, standing up and grabbing his small pile of books.

“I should go then.  I want to drop off my stuff in my dorm before dinner.”

“Ah, we should too,” Suga says, looking at Yaku, who nods.

Everyone starts getting up to go, but Hajime grabs Oikawa’s arm.

“Hey, curfew is at nine, and I wanted to write a letter to my parents.  Do you want to meet me in the library after dinner?  Then you can write one too, and we can take them to the owlery together.”

Oikawa smiles.  “Sure, Iwa-chan, I’ll see you then.”

 

✦

 

On his way to the library, Hajime wonders.

He wonders, first and foremost, about Oikawa.  He had asked him to come write letters to their parents because, naturally, he wants to write a letter to his mom and dad, and he knows Oikawa probably wants to, too.  But he also wants to be able to talk to Oikawa alone.

When he’d asked Oikawa how he was doing in Charms, he’d been hesitant to answer and clearly hadn’t told Hajime about everything that had happened.  He may have just been really miserable and not wanted to talk about it, Hajime thinks, or he might not have wanted to talk about it with other students all around them.

He also wonders if Oikawa will tell him what the sorting hat said during the long time it seemed to debate where to put him.  He’ll ask, Hajime decides, but he won’t press if Oikawa doesn’t want to say.

Hajime arrives at the library well before curfew, having finished dinner pretty early and getting directions from every painting he passed.  He spots Oikawa sitting, writing on some parchment at a table in an aisle only a few shelves deep into the library.  He plops down next to him, and Oikawa glances up.

“Hey, Iwa-chan.  There’s parchment you can use right there.  I really hate writing in ink with quills.  I’m asking my mom to send me some normal pens.”

Hajime nods, agreeing, and starts composing his own letter.

He hadn’t planned to write a particularly long letter, but Hajime finds himself writing more than he expected.  He explains how the train ride was, how the sorting went, and how his first day was.  He ends up writing about all his roommates, how he really likes them all, especially Hanamaki.  He writes the most about how he’s worried about Oikawa, and about how he’s in Slytherin and no one in house seems to be talking to him in class.  Hajime didn’t realize just how much he was worrying until he put it into words.  Sparing a look at Oikawa, Hajime sees how he looks a little deflated still.  He doubts dinner was much fun for him.

He ends the letter saying how he misses his parents and signs off with a “Love, Hajime.”

He folds the letter and looks up at Oikawa, who is holding his own letter in one hand and an envelope for Hajime in the other.

Hajime takes it, and they stand up.

“To the owlery?” Oikawa asks.

“Yeah,” Hajime says. “If we can find it.”

They set off, and Hajime hesitates to start conversation.  Should he ask about the sorting?  Or about when he went to the common room?  At dinner tonight?  If Oikawa’s upset, would it just rub it all in his face more?

“You look like you’re thinking too hard, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa observes.  “It’s only the first day—you don’t want your head to explode.”

Hajime gives him a weak glare and then sighs.

“I was just thinking about… how you’re in Slytherin.”

Oikawa doesn’t say anything.  Hajime regrets saying anything.

“Sorry, Oikawa.  I’m just worried about you,” Hajime apologizes.  “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

It’s Oikawa’s turn to sigh.

“It’s just… frustrating,” he says.

He quiets and doesn't say anything more until they're in the owlery.

Hajime is stroking Hayate’s feathers as he sticks his letter into his little talons when Oikawa speaks from where he is rubbing Shiori’s head.

“The feast was hard.”

Hajime looks over at him.  Is he finally going to give the details of what happened?

“Yeah,” Hajime says, not sure what to say.

“I sat down near all the other first years.  Daishou had clearly told all of them I was a muggleborn.  They didn't say anything when I sat down.  A couple glanced at me, but Daishou and the group of kids near him just didn't even acknowledge I existed.  This one kid Nakashima, who was sitting next to me, asked me my name, and I told him.  But he didn't talk to me anymore after that,” Oikawa says, his voice getting progressively angrier and faster as he goes along.

He sticks the letter in his owl’s talons, and Shiori and Hayate both hoot and fly away.

Oikawa continues as they walk back up from the owlery to the castle.

“The food was good, but no one talked to me.  Finally, after we finished, this prefect came over, a guy, and he told us to follow him to the common room.  On the way, Daishou kept whispering these comments like ‘I hope I don't have to share a dorm with  _him_ ,’ and all his friends would nod and sneer in agreement.  And the prefect couldn't hear and just told them to be quiet if he heard whispering.

“We got to our common room, and it was pretty cool, Iwa-chan. It's under the lake so there's a huge glass wall like an aquarium.  So the prefect directed us into groups for the dorms and Daishou and most of his posse were together in one group, and I was in the other, and Daishou said ‘I’m so glad I’m not with that dirty blood.’  And he said it really loudly.  I was seething, and a few other first years—not in his gaggle of bigots, of course, but some of the girls and some of the people in my dorm—looked uncomfortable.

“The prefect heard him that time and snapped his head to him and said ‘Ten points from Slytherin,’ and Daishou looked aghast.  The prefect walked over to him and hovered over him, he was really tall, and told him it's disgraceful to say such things about anyone, especially a member of his own house. He sent us all to our dorms after that, and Daishou gave me a vicious glare but he didn't say anything else—to my face at least.”

Oikawa and Hajime have made their way to a little stone bridge, leading to an entrance to the castle from the path down to the owlery.  Hajime's blood is boiling at the story, his anger at Daishou growing, but Oikawa seems calm.  Oikawa stops and leans against one side, looking out over the lake and forest in the distance.  The sight is peaceful, and Hajime moves next to him, feeling his rage subside.  He gives Oikawa as comforting and supporting a look as possible, trying not to look pitying.

“There’s more people like that prefect than there are people like Daishou,” Hajime says, as sure as he can.  Even though he hopes it’s true, he isn't completely confident, though hopefully that sentiment doesn't show in his voice.

Oikawa nods a little, but he doesn't smile.  Hajime doesn't say anything, just watches the lake and Oikawa, his friend’s hair gently shifting in the evening breeze.

They stand there, leaning of the bridge, for quite a while.

Finally, Oikawa says, “The hat and I really argued.”

Hajime looks at him expectantly, and Oikawa pauses a moment before continuing.

“I put it on, and right off the hat went, ‘Well aren't you interesting?’  You were in Gryffindor, Iwa-chan, so of course I started asking to be in Gryffindor.  That would have be so fun, you know?  The hat didn't see me as a Gryffindor, though, but I was so stubborn I kept distracting it and then it was surprised, because my mind was so sharp it was thinking about Ravenclaw or Slytherin, but my loyalty to you made it think I could be Hufflepuff.  I turned that against it and said fierce loyalty is a Gryffindor trait, so that could work for me as a Gryffindor.

"The hat then turned that on me, saying that argument was clever, meaning I'd more likely be a Ravenclaw or a Slytherin.  I kept protesting, but it said I was analytical and wanted to learn, which was very Ravenclaw, but I was driven, ambitious, and doggedly pursued my goals as well—all Slytherin traits.  I stopped arguing so stubbornly then, realizing that was only bolstering its point for Slytherin.

"It was hesitant though, because my persistence with trying to be Gryffindor was an example of the loyal friendship of a Hufflepuff.  And besides, it was already conflicted over Ravenclaw versus Slytherin.  I stopped arguing for Gryffindor at that point because it clearly wasn't on board for that at all, and instead said Slytherin should be eliminated because I'm a muggleborn.

"The hat then told me I was a good fit for Slytherin except for the blood part, but sorting isn't completely about what house you fit best into—it's about what house will help you grow the most.  And it said that being in Slytherin would force me to grow and change, but I would become a better wizard for it.

"I said that couldn't be, and said I would be better in Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff, but the hat didn't really want to hear it because it had pretty much made up its mind.  And then it called out 'SLYTHERIN!' and it was all over."

Oikawa leans back from the side of the bridge, his expression open and conflicted.  He looks sad and frustrated and angry and disappointed all at once.

"I don't want to be a Slytherin."

Hajime nods.  "I know."

"But just because I don't want to be doesn't change the fact I am," Oikawa states.  "And I'm not going to let it ruin my time at Hogwarts."

Oikawa stares out determinedly into the distance, watching the sun dip behind the skyline.

"I'm going to make Slytherin a house to be proud of," Oikawa announces, a fire blazing in his eyes.  "I'm not going to wallow in self-pity.  I'm not going to do nothing.  I'm going to make a difference.  I'm not going to give up."

He seems to be telling the whole world this, as he's almost shouting out to the sky, but then he turns to Hajime, and Hajime alone.  He is a little less fierce, his voice softer, quieter.

"Don't let me give up," Oikawa says, his voice wavering just a little.  "Promise me you won't let me give up."

The prospect is daunting: Oikawa wants to reinvent everything his house stands for—to make himself feel welcome, to make muggleborns like him feel welcome.  He wants to shake up Slytherin to its core, meaning he wants to shake up Hogwarts.  And he wants Hajime with him as he does it.

There's no hesitation.

"I promise," Hajime replies.  "I'll help you however I can, Oikawa."

Oikawa nods and he takes a breath, the immense passion and determination simmering down.

"Thank you, Iwa-chan," he says.  "I didn't know until I did it, but I needed to talk about all of it."

Hajime doesn't say anything in response, just steps to him and gives Oikawa a hug.

Oikawa hugs him back, tightly, holding onto his friend with desperation.

They part as the sun disappears completely behind the horizon, the clouds a gentle pink.  The moon is not yet out, the world caught in between day and darkness, but the sky is still light—still bright.

As they walk back to the castle under a darkening sky, Oikawa pauses and looks upwards, and Hajime follows suit.  Hajime smiles, and out of the corner of his eye he can see Oikawa smile too.  The stars are just starting to shine.

The starlight is glimmering in Oikawa's eyes, the pure happiness in his face a welcome contrast to the vulnerable and hurt feelings of before.

There's a long road ahead, Hajime knows.  It won't be easy to change a house, to change a whole school.  But somehow, as he stands with Oikawa under the constellations, he's sure that they can do it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS GOES OUT TO 3 FANTASTIC PEOPLE  
> 1 - the amazing, wonderful [ Mel](http://mlim8.tumblr.com/) who drew[ the most beautiful fanart of the scene where Hajime and Oikawa talk about how if they get married Hajime can reveal his secret from chapter one and YOU SHOULD GO LIKE AND REBLOG IT!!! HERE!!!](http://mlim8.tumblr.com/post/154570939228/if-i-marry-tooru-a-magic-beyond-us-by-ineia) IT IS SO BEAUTIFUL I WANT TO PUT IT IN MY WALLET AND SHOW IT TO EVERYONE!!!! AHHHHHH!!!!!!  
> 2 & 3 - my lovely, sweet, and incredible betas, [Kat](http://konekat.tumblr.com/) and [Elise](http://galacticlance.tumblr.com/)—they made edits that made this chapter much better to read and enjoy and I cannot thank them enough, you all are amazing and I love you  
> I'm sorry this chapter took so long, I'd hoped to get it out faster but between the holidays and the end the semester for me it was really hectic for a while. I'll try to do better with the next chapter, but I honestly can make no promises.  
> I would like to thank everyone who has left a comment, they make me so happy and motivated, or left kudosed or bookmarked or subscribed or just read this story, you all have been so kind and stupendously supportive!  
> If you all have any questions (none I deem too spoilery at least :D) or just want to talk about my fic or Haikyuu or Harry Potter feel free to talk to me on [my tumblr](http://ladyineia.tumblr.com) or [ twitter](https://twitter.com/ladyineia)!  
>   
> If you are interested: [spreadsheet with all the characters & their houses](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1W2UtCdKMLeeYpliu_WyO2jj5Mf_l4L6vw95nVkaZwn0/edit?usp=sharing)  
> 


	6. Halloween

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Potions, closets, trolls, and home.

“You are here,” Professor Washijou booms, “to learn how to make potions.”

Hajime unintentionally tenses up at how loud his voice is, and he can see Oikawa sit up straighter besides him.  Despite his stature, the potion master cuts an intimidating figure as he stands at the front of the classroom.

“Some may say potions is a lesser art, as we do not do much wand waving in here,” Washijou continues. “But you will soon find potion-making is an art of as much or more power than any other subject.”

The man walks slowly through the rows of tables, and almost all the students avoid eye contact.  Hajime finds himself staring at the man’s forehead to feign meeting his gaze.  Oikawa, however, looks at Professor Washijou straight on.

“Most of the students I teach are foolish.”  Washijou frowns.  “I doubt you will be an exception.”

Hajime glances at Hanamaki across the room, who gives him an alarmed grimace.  Suddenly, Washijou turns to a Slytherin girl sitting with a red-headed Slytherin boy.

“You, name?”

“Hi-Hirama Asuka, s-sir,” the girl stutters.

“What potion uses armadillo bile, scarab beetles, and ginger roots?”

Hirama mouth hangs openly slightly, and the boy—Tendou?—looks amused next to her.

“I-I have no idea, sir,” Hirama replies.  Washijou’s eyes narrow and he turns around.

“Does anyone know?” he asks.  The class is silent.  Hajime has no clue, and he can see Oikawa thinking next to him, but he doesn’t seem to know either.

“You.”  Washijou points to Sawamura at a table a few feet away.  “Name?”

“Sawamura Daichi, sir,” Sawamura answers, his voice steady.

“What does a bezoar do?”

“I’m sorry, I don’t know sir.”

“And you?” Washijou looks at Hanamaki sitting next to Sawamura.

“I’m Hanamaki Takahiro.”

“Do you at least know where I could find a bezoar?”

“No, sir.”

“So no one in this class—” Washijou stops,  Oikawa is raising his hand, albeit a bit hesitantly.  Washijou walks over to him slowly.

“You are Oikawa, correct?”

“Yes, Professor.  Oikawa Tooru.”

“And do you know where to find a bezoar?”

“You can find a bezoar in the stomach of a goat,” Oikawa answers.  Hajime feels a surge of pride for his best friend—Oikawa had really read the textbooks studiously.

“Correct.  What would the bezoar do?” Washijou presses.

“It cures many poisons, sir.”

“Indeed.  Do you know what kind of potion Jobberknoll feathers are used in?”

Hajime feels Oikawa deflate next to him.

“No, sir.  I don’t.”

The professor looks around for anyone else who could respond.

“Only one of you shows the faintest traces of having at least glanced at their potions textbook.  Young people seem to be getting less competent every year.”

Washijou walks to the board and starts to write, saying his words aloud as he goes,

“Jobberknoll feathers: useful for memory potions, and truth potions as well as... Why are you not taking notes?  This is a lesson.”

Hajime hurries to take out a parchment and a quill, the rest of the class doing the same.

They pair up after taking some rather complicated notes and attempt to make a potion cure to boils.  Oikawa and Hajime make an adept team: Oikawa reads and understands the instructions easily, stirring the potion and adding ingredients while Hajime measures and cuts them all carefully.  Most people seem to be having less luck.  Hanamaki and Daichi are struggling to do anything and end up with nasty black smoke coming from their cauldron.  Washijou empties their cauldron with a flick of his wand and yells, both (helpfully) giving them the explanation of how to fix their mistakes and (not so helpfully) chastising them for failing to follow instructions.  Hirama, the girl from earlier, can’t seem to stop her nervousness and dumps far too many dried nettles into the potion, despite a valiant attempt by Tendou to stop her.  The cauldron explodes and they both end up covered in soot.

“I need a better partner,” Tendou says, matter-of-factly.  Hirama looks distraught.

Daishou and his partner Numai are, unfortunately, as good a pair as Oikawa and Hajime.  Both groups’ potions are made perfectly, with faint pink smoke rising from each cauldron as a sign of success.

Washijou doesn’t give praise, but simply nods at each pair’s finished potion, compared to his shouting at nearly everyone else.

 

✦

 

The Slytherins and Gryffindors share three classes together, Charms and Potions several times a week, and Astronomy every Wednesday night.  Astronomy is by far Oikawa’s favorite class; he knows most of the constellations and many of the planet names already.  Hajime likes Charms the most, though Oikawa certainly enjoys that class as well.  While most of the Gryffindors dislike the classes they have to share with the Slytherins, Hajime can’t help enjoying them.  Getting to do magic with Oikawa is always fun.

His other classes with Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs are fine.  Herbology is fun, Transfiguration is hard but interesting, and History of Magic walks the line between monotonous and genuinely engaging.

The biggest disappointment is Defense Against the Dark Arts with the Hufflepuffs, which Hajime is sure is going to be great until the teacher, Professor Saitou, turns out to be a wimp.  He constantly stutters and shudders and wears a large hat that apparently protects him from jinxes.  They only read about dark magical creatures and don’t cast any spells for weeks.  When they finally do cast a spell, it only makes red sparks appear from their wand, useful as a flare but rather underwhelming.

Hajime falls into a routine fairly quickly.  After their classes end, Hajime, Hanamaki, and Oikawa meet up in a courtyard or an empty classroom and work on their homework together.  Then they have dinner and afterwards Hajime meets Oikawa in the library and they write letters to their parents.  On Fridays, Hajime, Oikawa, and Hanamaki meet up with a much larger group of first years—sometimes they work, sometimes they talk, but they always have fun.

Within their group of friends, and within the first years as a whole, everyone has broken up into smaller groups of close friends (though everyone—with the exception of the Slytherins—is amicable with one another).  Ushijima and Bokuto form a strange, contrasting friendship that both puzzles and intrigues Hajime.  Suga and Sawamura become close friends and often are with a quiet Hufflepuff boy named Asahi.  Yaku, also friendly with Suga, comes on Fridays with a Hufflepuff named Kai who seems endlessly kind and calm.

It’s fun and a little crazy, but Hajime wouldn’t trade for anything else.

 

✦

 

When Oikawa sits down next to him in Charms, Hajime knows something’s off.  Oikawa appears to be in deep thought and doesn’t even say hello.  Instead, he stares across the room at a Slytherin boy with messy black hair who is reading over the textbook.

“Who’s he?” Hajime asks, following Oikawa’s gaze.  Oikawa answers without looking away.

“Kuroo Tetsurou.”

Hajime waits for him to elaborate, and when he doesn’t, he sighs.

“Okay, cool, but why are you glaring at him?  What did he do?”

Oikawa snaps out of his gaze and turns to Hajime.

“Does it look like I’m glaring at him?”

“A little bit.”

“I didn’t mean to glare.  He defended me at breakfast,” Oikawa says.

“Defended you?”

Oikawa drums the desk with his right hand.

“Daishou and his cronies were making fun of me.  They called me four-eyes, then stupid, then idiot, then bozo, and then…” Oikawa trails off.  His gaze had wandered while he explained, frowning slightly.

Hajime waits a moment before pressing him.  “And then?”

Oikawa doesn’t speak for a few more seconds before he finally sighs.

“Mudblood,” Oikawa says, his voice full of hurt and frustration. “And then muggle spawn, and muggle bastard.”

Hajime seethes—he feels vicious rage pumping through him.  What kind of monsters are they to call someone in their own house stuff like that?  How could they say names like that to his face?

Hajime looks around the classroom, trying to find Daishou.  He doubts hitting him would make him aware of his stupidity, but it would certainly feel better than letting him get away with it. Hajime’s mom had always warned him to avoid confrontation and, for the most part, Hajime has listened to that, but even she would think something has to be done here.

Hajime spots Daishou, whose smirking face is sickening, and is about to rise when Oikawa yanks on his arm.

“Don’t.  Don’t even bother.  If you bug him about it, it’s like he’s won—like he knows he got to me,”  Oikawa says. “Besides, that’s not the end of the story.”

Hajime hesitates, but Oikawa’s eyes are pleading.  He sighs and sits in his chair, still fuming, and Oikawa continues.

“After he said mudblood, this half-blood kid Numai in Daishou’s group stopped laughing and looked uncomfortable, but he didn’t say anything.  Kuroo was right next to me and he gave Daishou a disapproving glance when he said mudblood but didn’t do anything either.”  Oikawa looks over to Kuroo again, who still hasn’t looked up from his textbook.  He’s looking at it so intently that Hajime guesses he isn’t reading at all and just doesn’t want to meet Oikawa’s eyes, or anyone’s else for that matter.

“Then after muggle spawn and bastard, he looked at Daishou and said, in this really harsh and scary voice, ‘Lay off him.’  I was surprised because the guy has barely talked to me at all.  In fact, I haven’t seen him talk much to anybody.  Daishou went, ‘what?’ like he didn’t hear, but of course he did and then Kuroo just went, ‘Shut up.’”

Hajime raises his eyebrows.  Why would some kid start defending Oikawa when he’d shown no interest in doing so the past few weeks?  And why do it so directly?

Oikawa nods at Hajime’s reaction.

“Doesn’t it sound weird?  Daishou just muttered something to himself and then left me alone.  Kuroo didn’t say anything more, to me or to anyone.  I tried to thank him, but he just waved me off so I didn’t press it.  I asked Shimizu-san about it in Transfiguration and she told me the Kuroo family is apparently very powerful and important in the group of remaining pure pureblood families with no connections to muggles whatsoever.

“Apparently, when the Death Eaters rose, Kuroo’s dad was one, but his mom was part of the ‘Order of the Phoenix,’ this group of wizards who fought the Death Eaters.”

Hajime nods.

“My mom was in that group.  She has a picture of them on her desk at her office.”

He remembers asking her about it, once, when she took him to see the Ministry as a little boy.  He can recall her carefully explaining she joined ‘some friends’ to stop ‘bad wizards’ from doing evil.  Only when she had explained the importance of blood to him and Oikawa had Hajime fully understood what sort of ‘bad wizards’ there were.

“Right, that makes sense,” Oikawa says, nodding, “But Kuroo’s parents were split, one pro-Death Eater, one anti.  After the war, they had Kuroo, hoping it would bring them together, but it didn’t.  Since he was just a kid, they both tried to give him their values and were always fighting.  They never divorced, but they couldn’t stand each other.  His mom really won out though, because apparently he rejects all the blood status stuff.  Anyway, his dad’s family was really close with Daishou’s family apparently, and so he basically grew up with Daishou.  Almost like us.”

Hajime frowns.  He didn’t like being compared to Daishou, even tangentially.

“And Shimizu-san also was close to him because her mom was best friends with Kuroo’s mom, so she knows all these details.”

Oikawa frowns thoughtfully at Kuroo for a moment before he sits a bit straighter.  He leans over to Hajime, lowering his voice.

“I think that Kuroo probably feels really split, since he was friends with Daishou but hates the blood elitism thing. So he just ignored both Daishou and his insults to me, maybe because he just doesn’t want to deal with him.  That’s my theory at least.”

Hajime frowns.  On the one hand, he’s glad Oikawa might have an ally in Slytherin.  On the other, Kuroo seems fairly hesitant to do anything, which really annoys Hajime.

“If Kuroo told Daishou to lay off, even if he feels some old remnants of their friendship, shouldn’t he know that Daishou’s gone too far with you?” Hajime says. “Shouldn’t he want to help?”

“Well, I’m not too optimistic about him.  Just curious,” Oikawa replies.

Hajime just shrugs in response.

Professor Takeda moves to start class by describing activities they’ll be doing to strengthen the levitation charm they've been practicing.  Though Oikawa had said he wasn’t optimistic, he keeps watching Kuroo throughout class, giving his fellow Slytherin scrutinizing looks.  Hajime tries not to frown at this, just hoping Oikawa doesn’t get his hopes of a new friend crushed.

 

✦

 

Oikawa reports he made no headway later that night when he and Hajime go to write letters in the library.

“I tried to talk to him, but he kept ducking out of the way and running off.  He’s actually in my dorm room, but he had already fallen asleep in his bed when I got to the common room after dinner.  I don’t know if he was faking or not, but I didn’t try to wake him up.  I’ll try again tomorrow, though.”

Hajime nods.  “Maybe try talking to him at the feast.  If you sit next to him, he can’t ignore you the whole time.”

Oikawa grins.  “Why Iwa-chan, you do have some smarts in that head of yours!”

Hajime glares at him.  “Why wouldn’t I?  I’m not a genius like you, but I’m not stupid.”

“Oh, I’m not a genius, Iwa-chan.  But I was just thinking about that History of Magic quiz you showed me and I was wondering where your brain went when you took th—”

Without hesitation, Hajime punches him in the shoulder (pretty lightly as he’s feeling slightly bad for him) and Oikawa yelps.  The librarian gives them a glare and the pair wilts a little bit under her fierce gaze.

They both go back to writing their letter home, silently, until Oikawa whispers, “I know you’re not really stupid, Iwa-chan.”

“I know that you know that,” Hajime replies. “It doesn’t mean it didn’t deserve a punch.”

Oikawa tries to pout but Hajime can tell he is also resisting the urge to grin, which means his face looks absolutely ridiculous.

Hajime bursts out laughing and so does Oikawa after a couple seconds.  The librarian kicks them out immediately, scolding them rather vigorously but letting them off without deducting any house points.  The pair just grins as they wander down the hall together, full of excitement for next day.

 

✦

 

Halloween seems to be a normal day, at first.  He has Herbology first and History of Magic last with the Ravenclaws, and Transfiguration in the middle of the day with the Hufflepuffs.  He doesn’t have any classes with Oikawa or the Slytherins since classes end early today, giving them a long break before the feast starts at six o’clock.  It’s only when he sits down in History of Magic that something unusual occurs.  Matsukawa, a Ravenclaw who Hajime knows is good friends with Oikawa, plops down next to him before class starts.  Hajime has only spoken to Matsukawa a few times when Oikawa invited to hang out with their circle of first year friends on Fridays or during a break.  He always looked pretty mellow, if a bit serious.  However, his current expression is troubled, to say the least.

“Sorry to bother you, Iwaizumi.  Is Oikawa sick?” he asks, leveling him with a worried look.  Hajime furrows his brow.

“Not as far as I know.  He was fine last night when we wrote letters in the library.  Why do you ask?” Hajime responds, his stomach sinking uncomfortably.

“He wasn’t in class in Transfiguration last period.  I don’t know what happened.  Nekomata forgot to take attendance so I didn’t hear anything from the Slytherins, but I always sit with him so I noticed he wasn’t there.”

“Ahem, sorry to interrupt.  I don’t know if you’ve been here the past two months, but typically I sit next to Iwaizumi, dude,” Hanamaki says, walking up beside Matsukawa.

“Sorry, Hanamaki-san.  Oikawa seems to be MIA,” Matsukawa says, standing up with a sigh.

“Just Hanamaki is fine.  And how?  Where’s he gone?” Hanamaki sits down, glancing uneasily at Iwaizumi.

“He wasn’t in class and we don’t know where he is,” Hajime summarizes. “And he wouldn’t skip.  We should look for him during the break before the feast and ask the Slytherins.”

“Yeah.  Sounds good,” Matsukawa replies.  He gives a small wave and walks back to where he usually sits with Yaku.

Hanamaki tsks. “Of course Oikawa goes missing on Halloween.  How dramatic.”

Iwaizumi gives a small smile at that but can’t completely repress the increasing nervousness he feels in his chest.

 

✦

 

The Slytherins know nothing.  Matsukawa and Hanamaki ask all the Slytherins who are friendly, or nonaggressive at least.  None of them seem to know anything, though Kuroo appears alarmed at the news.  All he has to report is that he had seen Oikawa this morning.  Apparently he had assumed that Oikawa had gotten sick, but now he's not so sure.

Iwaizumi is given the harder task—Daishou and his posse.  If any sort of foul play was at hand, Daishou surely had something to do with it.

Daishou just snorts and says he didn't see Oikawa after breakfast and hasn't given him a thought since.  Hajime is inclined not to believe him, but there's something genuine about how he raised his eyebrows at Hajime’s questioning.

Matsukawa, Hanamaki, and Hajime are at a dead end.

They spend the rest of their break searching for Oikawa, looking into empty classrooms, wandering the halls shouting his name (they all get yelled at by a prefect but she doesn't take away any points from them), and even checking in a bunch of the bathrooms.  Hogwarts is unfortunately massive, meaning even with a few hours before the feast, they still only search a fraction of the school.

Matsukawa is fairly intense about searching, as is Hajime, but Hanamaki gets surprisingly focused too.  Hajime has always felt a bit guiltily that he always is inclined to hang out with Oikawa over Hanamaki.  He knows Hanamaki and Oikawa, while easily and definitely friends, never seem all too close.  But Hajime wonders if Hanamaki cares about Oikawa a bit more than he lets on as he looks for their mutual friend with the same amount of diligence.  Oikawa is infuriatingly charming, and Hanamaki is pretty friendly for his goofiness.

About ten minutes before the feast, they decide to call it quits and sprint to the Great Hall.  Matsukawa gives them a wave as he walks over to the Ravenclaw table.  Hanamaki and Hajime sit down with some of the other first years and barely have time to catch their breath before Headmaster Ukai stands up.  Hajime is half expecting a speech, but instead he just waves his hands and golden plates appear, full of delicious looking food.

Hajime digs in, slightly worn out from trekking and searching around the castle for hours.  Bokuto is chattering about how flying lessons are going to start soon and is questioning everyone on their flying experience.  He’s about to ask Hajime when the doors of the Great Hall fly open.  Professor Saitou, the boring Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, runs in, shouting between gasps:

“Troll in the dungeons!  There’s a troll—dungeons—sorry to disturb.”

The professor then faints into a heap.  Chaos follows.  Everyone is yelling and standing up, the prefects begin to escort their respective houses back to the dorms at the command of Headmaster Ukai, and masses of students are moving towards the doorway with haste.  Matsukawa finds Hajime and Hanamaki in the crowd and speaks quietly and quickly to them,

“That Slytherin Kuroo found me a second ago.  He said he overheard Hiroo joking with Daishou about locking Oikawa in a closet.  He wasn't sure if they meant the supply closet in their common room or that fourth years charms classroom on the second floor.  He's headed to check the common room.”

“Let’s go, then,” Hajime says, and Hanamaki nods.

The three slip through groups of students and manage to make their way towards the classroom, Matsukawa leading the other two.

On the way, they hadn't seen nor heard the troll and had hoped it’s in another part of the castle.

Matsukawa opens the door and the three burst in.

“OIKAWA!” Hajime shouts, “You in here?  Oik—”

Iwaizumi stops at the sound of pounding on a door.

Muffled, but audible, Hajime hears a wonderfully familiar voice.

“Iwa-chan!  I'm here!”

The boys run over to the source of the sound, a door nestled in a corner of the room.  Iwaizumi pulls on the knob, but it's locked.  There’s a keyhole and Hanamaki immediately starts looking around for a key, glancing in desks and behind stacks of books.

Hajime tries fiddling with the handle while Matsukawa takes out his wand.

“We don’t have the key, Oikawa.  Do you remember that unlocking charm we saw in the textbook?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Oikawa says, pausing for a moment. “The ‘Thief's Friend,’ alohomora.”

Matsukawa points his wand at the door knob.

“Alohomora!”

There’s a clicking noise and Matsukawa turns the knob with his open hand.

The door opens and reveals Oikawa, standing in front of some shelves.  His eyes look red and little puffy, like he has been crying.

He promptly steps out of the closet and his legs buckle.  Hajime and Matsukawa each grab an arm and Hanamaki comes back over.

“Oh.  My legs, I couldn’t sit down in there.  There wasn’t any room.  I've been standing since this morning.”

“Are you—” Hajime tries.  He doesn’t know how to finish that.  Okay?  No, he’s probably not.  Tired?  Yes, obviously.  Mad?  Yes, that too.  What can he even say?  So Hajime just doesn’t finish his sentence and Oikawa looks at him, utterly exhausted, but with a thankful smile.  Oikawa just seems to understand.  He always does.

“I'm ready to sit down.”

Matsukawa and Iwaizumi help Oikawa over to a desk to sit for a moment.  Oikawa rubs his hands over his thighs, wincing a little bit.  Hanamaki wrings his hands together slightly nervously.

“Do you think you could walk, Oikawa?”

Oikawa lets out a sigh, but he nods and stands up.

“Let’s go, then.  There’s a troll in the dungeons, so we should—” Hanamaki begins, but is interrupted by the room shaking ever so slightly.  The room then shakes again but with more force.  And again, stronger, and again.

“Oh no,” Matsukawa says.

“Did you say troll?” Oikawa croaks.

The door to the classroom is fairly large, and it only takes a slight duck of the head for the troll to enter the room.

The four boys backup slowly against the back wall as the troll wanders into the room, eyes surveying everything before it focuses on them.

“We should split into pairs, he can't go after all of us that way.”

“Okay,” breathes Oikawa, grabbing Hajime’s hand, “On three, Iwa-chan and I will run to the left.  Makki and Mattsun, go to the right.”

“Alright,” Matsukawa says.

“One…” Oikawa starts.  The troll is watching them, an eagerness in his eyes.  A club hangs at his side as he steps forward towards them.

“Two…”

The troll swings his club aimlessly at his side, destroying three desks easily.  He is very close to them.

“Three!”

Hajime bolts, pulling Oikawa along.  They head towards the door, running along the sides of the room, as far from the troll as they can.

The two halt as they hear Matsukawa and Hanamaki scream together.  They’ve been cornered by the troll who is about to bring his clubs down on them.

“HEY UGLY!” Hajime yells, not thinking. “HOW ABOUT US?”

The troll swings around towards Oikawa and Hajime.  The combination of relief that Matsukawa and Hanamaki won't be killed with the fear that he and Oikawa might be leaves Hajime feeling pretty ambivalent.  But Oikawa isn’t so hopeless.  Oikawa instantly takes out his wand, leveling it at the troll.

“EXPELLIARMUS!”

The club goes flying out of the troll’s hand, smashing a desk.

Hajime can see Matsukawa and Hanamaki scrambling out of the troll’s reach from in between the troll’s legs.  The troll reached over towards Oikawa and Hajime, angrily swiping at them.  The two dive in opposite directions as the troll destroys a set of desks near where they’d been standing.  Hajime hears a cracking sound from where Oikawa is, and his heart stops for a moment before he recognizes the noise from his childhood: glasses being broken.

Hajime turns around and scans the room for something, anything he can do to distract the troll and make sure everyone can get to the door.

Before he can do anything, Hanamaki’s voice rings out:

“Wingardium leviosa!”

The club flies into the air and falls on the troll’s head.  The troll freezes for a second, then begins to wobble.

“MOVE!” Matsukawa shouts.

Hajime looks and confirms Oikawa is out of harm’s way before he dashes out of the troll-fall zone.

With a thud, the troll falls to the floor and is still.

Hajime walks slowly over to it.  It seems to be breathing.

“I think it's unconscious.”

He hears dual sighs from Hanamaki and Matsukawa, and a sniffle.  He glances over to Oikawa, who is staring at the ground with tears in his eyes.

Hajime goes over to him, with a bit of difficulty because he has to hop over a set of smashed desks.  Matsukawa and Hanamaki come over too, stopping in front of Oikawa, who is standing with tears silently rolling down his face as he stares down at his broken glasses.

They are absolutely shattered.  The glass itself is in a thousand tiny pieces.  The frames are also in a dozen large sections, cracked shards scattered around the remains of the lenses.

“I'm sorry,” Oikawa whispers, his voice cracking a bit. “I tried not to cry in front of you guys, but my glasses broke and I just…”

Hajime understands.  It was the last straw on what must have been a terrible day.  Oikawa inhales and takes out his wand.

“Reparo!”

The pieces barely move closer together before they resettle, not mended in the slightest.

Oikawa bites his lip.  Hajime puts a hand on his shoulder.

“It’ll be stronger with both us,” he says, with a determined smile.  Oikawa nods, struggling to smile back.

They perform the spell in unison, and the glasses seem a little closer to repairing themselves before the pieces fall back apart.

Hajime frowns and Oikawa sighs at the result.  Matsukawa clears his throat, looking to Oikawa,

“You know, if we all work together, it might be strong enough.  You guys, plus me and Hanamaki.”

Oikawa’s eyes widen at the suggestion, and he glances at Hajime and Hanamaki as if to ask if they will.

Hajime nods and Hanamaki gives a thumbs-up.

Oikawa wipes the tears away and holds out his wand, looking significantly more optimistic.  The other three join him, Wanda ready.

“On three.  One, two, three…”

Four voices shout as one:

“REPARO!”

The piece of glasses zoom back together, and then—

“It's fixed!” Hanamaki says, delighted.

“I wasn't sure it was going to work,” Matsukawa breathes. “Nice.”

Oikawa reaches down and carefully puts the glasses on, his back turned to them.  He takes in a deep breath and turns around to the three of them, all standing fairly close to each other.  Then he moves forward and grabs all three of them into a hug.

“Thank you guys.”

Hajime doesn't bother to resist and hugs back.  Hanamaki and Matsukawa are slightly stiff for a moment before they melt into the hug too.

The four part and Oikawa looks between them.

“How did you guys even figure out I was here?”

The sound of footsteps and the appearance of six figures in the doorway divert their attention.  Professor Takeda, Professor Ukai, Kuroo, Professor Washijou, and Professor Saitou stand in the doorway.  Saitou pales at the sight of the fallen troll and grips the door frame as if he’s going to collapse.  Takeda, Ukai, and Washijou look flabbergasted.  Kuroo heaves a sigh of relief.

“Thank goodness you guys are okay.”

Takeda asks, recovering from his surprise, “Did you four…. stop this troll?”

“Uh, yes, Professor,” Hanamaki answers.

“You are lucky to have lived, boys,” Ukai says, a deadly serious look on his face. “Kuroo explained the situation to us.  What were you three thinking?  Why didn't you ask a Professor or any adult?”

Hajime, Matsukawa, and Hanamaki all wilt a little at the question.

“Please don't be angry at them,” Oikawa says, looking incredibly guilty. “They were looking for me.  I didn't mean for—”

“Just because they were trying to help a friend does not excuse their recklessness, Oikawa,” Washijou says coolly.  Oikawa hangs his head.

“Five points will be taken from each of you three for your reckless behavior,” Takeda says, pausing as the boys shuffle their feet. “And all of you, including Oikawa, will receive ten points for defeating this troll.  Not many first years could have accomplished that.”

All four of them brighten instantly.

“Go back to your dormitories at once before you can get into any more trouble.”

The four start to leave, and Kuroo goes as well, but Washijou grabs Oikawa’s shoulder as he passes to stop him for a moment.  Hajime stops just outside the door too, waiting for his friend.

“The boys who locked you in here will be severely punished, Oikawa.  Kuroo informed us on what happened and who they are.  I am your Head of House and theirs—if they cause you problems, come to me. Have I made myself clear?”

Washijou is intimidating even when being kind, Hajime notes.  Oikawa nods.

“Yes, Professor.”

“Go, then.”

 

✦

 

The next morning, Hajime spots Oikawa sitting next to Kuroo at breakfast.  They’re sitting off to the side, away from Daishou and his posse, who all look grumpy and keep glancing and glaring at the two boys down the table.  But Kuroo and Oikawa give them no notice.

Oikawa is talking eagerly, with a large grin on his face as he waves his hands around to illustrate something.  Kuroo is listening, looking somewhat amused, but sporting a real grin too.

Oikawa tells Hajime later that day that he and Kuroo are friends now and that Kuroo is a pretty great person.  Despite his earlier wariness, after how Kuroo helped them find Oikawa and got the teachers to help him, he can’t disagree.

It isn’t the only new bond that forms.

There’s a link between the four of them—Iwaizumi, Oikawa, Hanamaki, Matsukawa—a friendship.  It's new, but it’s real and it’s there.

It’s on a cool Friday evening as Hajime is sitting outside with Oikawa, Hanamaki, and Matsukawa when he realizes it.

He’s safe, he’s comfortable.

He glances at his friends, Hanamaki is laughing and joking about something he heard in class.  Matsukawa cracks up, trying not to snort.  Oikawa laughs and looks at Hajime with a smile—a genuine, happy smile.

He’s loved.

Hajime smiles and leans back on the grass.

He’s home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It has been so long and I'm sorry about that! School and an insane summer got in the way.  
> [Kat](http://konekat.tumblr.com/), my amazing and wonderful beta, made this chapter 1000 times more readable and clearer with fantastic editing and encouragement. Go check out her blog and fics!!  
> Thanks to everyone for their patience with my terrible updating schedule! And thanks to all who commented or kudosed or just read it. This has over 3000 hits now?? I'm just??? so happy????!!!!!  
> If you have any questions or just want to talk about my fic or Haikyuu or Harry Potter feel free to talk to me on [my tumblr](http://ladyineia.tumblr.com) or [ twitter](https://twitter.com/ladyineia)! I love talking about iwaoi and hp and whatnot so feel free to hit me up.  
>   
> For anyone curious: [spreadsheet with all the characters & their houses](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1W2UtCdKMLeeYpliu_WyO2jj5Mf_l4L6vw95nVkaZwn0/edit?usp=sharing)  
> 

**Author's Note:**

> And we're off! So I've actually written some iwaoi before, a couple oneshots, but never published them due to some anxiety about sharing them. But this is my first iwaoi multi-chapter fic (and the first I've published), and I'm excited!! Because!! Hogwarts!! Magic!!
> 
>  
> 
> [ my tumblr ](http://www.ladyineia.tumblr.com/)  
> [ my twitter ](https://twitter.com/ladyineia)  
> [ my youtube (where I have a video analyzing Haikyuu!!) ](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIN_O7KTXAm2L0bjXc0mJAA)
> 
>  
> 
> NOTE: I do not own Haikyuu!! and its related media. However the plot of this story, and other aspects I created, are my own work, derived from Haikyuu!!.


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